The Sunday News
ZIMBABWE senior national fifteens rugby team coach Brendan Dawson has lauded his players for their gallant display against Russia in an International Rugby Board Rugby World Cup play-off qualifier which Zimbabwe lost 23-15 in Siberia on 2 August.
The defeat saw Sables’ hopes of making it to next year’s World Cup come to an end. Russia and Uruguay will now compete for the last slot for a place in England next year.
Dawson, while disappointed by the result feels the team played well considering that they played against a professional team when they are amateurs.
“It was a difficult task against a team ranked number 20 in the world when we are number 27, the guys played well considering that Russia are a fully professional side,’’ said Dawson.
Three senior players, prop Denford Mutamangira, backline players Tangai Nemadire and Gerald Sibanda opted out of the trip to Russia due to what is believed to be differences with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union. Dawson bemoaned the absence of a player like Mutamangira which saw Zimbabwe struggle in the scrums and lineouts.
Mutamangira was outstanding with his immense strength at scrums during the African qualifiers in Antananarivo, Madagascar, last month where Zimbabwe lost out on an automatic qualifying slot to Namibia.
Dawson said the players he took with him to Russia wanted to carry on representing the country as they look to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The Sables coach believes the only solution for Zimbabwe to be able to hold their own against the best teams in the world is if they turn professional.
“It was a big achievement to lose by such small margins to Namibia and Russia who are professional yet we are amateurs, imagine what we could have done if we were professional. We could have won that game against Russia if we had not missed 14 points in kicks,’’ Dawson said.
Dawson revealed his desire to continue coaching the national team saying he is enjoying being the mentor of the country’s flagship national team. The former Sables loose forward has done a tremendous job since taking over from Christopher Lampard as the senior national team coach in 2007. When Dawson took charge of the team, the Sables were a laughing stock, ranked 57 in the world, ninth in Africa but they are now the third best team in the continent after South Africa and Namibia with a global ranking of 27.
The Sables are most likely to be back in action at the Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations in Namibia in November. Last year, they played Namibia and Kenya at the same tournament where they lost to Namibia before they conquered Kenya.
