The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE year 2016 is one that Zimbabwe rugby officials, coaches and players would want to quickly forget fast because of the disasters which befell the sport.
It was one calamity after another on and off the field of play with the new leadership of Nyararai Sibanda faced with a lot of challenges to deal with. Zimbabwe failed once again in their quest to become a core member of the World Rugby Sevens when the Daniel Hondo coached Cheetahs were beaten 22-0 by Japan at the semi-final stage of the qualifiers in Hong Kong in April.
The country hosted the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy staged at Harare Sports Club in the capital city from 19 April to 1 May.
The Brendon Brider coached Junior Sables were pathetic throughout the tournament as they lost all their group matches to Samoa, Uruguay and Fiji to finish bottom of the four team log with zero points. They were to end the competition winless and the worst team when they were beaten 44-40 by Hong Kong.
Sibanda, formerly vice-president under the John Falkenberg leadership was in May voted in as ZRU president with Tapiwa Mangezi and Noddy Kanyangarara deputising him. The new ZRU leadership was to be confronted with a lot of challenges for the better part of the year.
Having failed to qualify for the Olympics through the regional tournaments held in South Africa, the country’s men and women’s teams headed to the repachage competitions in Monaco and Ireland. First it was the Cheetahs who lost to Ireland and Samoa to finish third in their pool which meant they could not make it to the Rio Olympics. The Abigail Kawonza coached Lady Cheetahs finished bottom of their pool having lost to Samoa, Russia and Madagascar which meant the country did not have representation at the Olympics from rugby.
The country’s flagship national team, the Sables lost all their matches in the Africa Cup Division 1A. They were beaten 61-15 by Kenya and 34-27 by Uganda with both losses suffered at Police Grounds in Harare. They ended their campaign with a 60-22 defeat at the hands of Namibia in Windhoek to finish bottom of the log. At that stage they had lost seven matches in a row.
Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge was forced to step down from his post in August, only to be reinstated a month later under new terms.
Director of rugby Brighton Chivandire stepped down from his post, so did chief executive officer Colleen de Jong. ZRU have already advertised the two posts with applications closing on 6 January.
At the Under-18 Coca-Cola Craven Week held at Kearsney College in Durban, South Africa the Godwin Murambiwa coached lads continued with their struggle.
The Old Mutual-sponsored Junior Sables finally won a match at the Craven Week since they last did so in 2013 when they defeated Griquas Country Districts 16-9 in their opening match of the tournament. That was, however, to be the only win the Stuart Dodington led team recorded as they were clobbered 78-5 by Griquas Country District and then beaten 34-3 by Namibia in their last match of the tournament.
Earlier on in the month the Gordon Pangeti mentored Under-13 only won one out of the four matches at their Coca-Cola Craven Week staged at Paarl Gymnasium. They lost 25-3 to Griquas, beat Border Country District 12-6, lost 30-7 to Border before they rounded up their tournament with another loss, this time beaten 18-14 by Namibia.
For the Douglas Trivella-coached Under-16 at the Coca-Cola Grant Khomo Week also held Paarl Gymnasium, they performed much better than the other junior Zimbabwe national teams at the annual Youth Weeks. Zimbabwe clobbered Border Country Districts 41-0, were beaten 20-12 by Valke but ended the competition on a high note with a 15-5 victory over Namibia.
Old Mutual, for the third year running continued to sponsor all the junior national teams on their trips to South Africa by covering their airfares and providing playing uniforms.
The country hosted yet another competition, this time around the Africa Cup women tournament at Police Grounds in September. South Africa beat Kenya 22-17 in the final to defend the title they won in their own country in 2015. The Charity Mucucuti captained Lady Cheetahs finished in third place.
After years of being competitive on the continent, the Hilton Mudariki captained Cheetahs got a rude awakening in September when they were beaten 19-14 by Uganda in their opening fixture of the Africa Cup staged in Kenya.
The Cheetahs clobbered Mauritius 54-0 in their second match but it was too late as they finished second in the pool with Uganda going through to the Cup semi-finals. Zimbabwe went on to finish fifth in the tournament which was won by Uganda.
The poor showing saw the Cheetahs miss out on the South Africa leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Cape Town. On top of that, Zimbabwe will not have opportunity to go to Hong Kong this year in what is a massive setback for the game in the country as they have to wait another year to have a shot at core member status.
Mandenge took the Sables to the Cup of Nations in Hong Kong in November where there was no change in fortunes as they were beaten by Russia and Hong Kong to take their losing streak to nine games. The Sables did bring an end to their losing ways with a 38-11 triumph over Papua New Guinea who are ranked 69th in the world.
The Sables are now ranked 37 in the world, having once achieved a ranking of 25 when Brendan Dawson was the coach.
During a gloomy year, there was some good news for the country’s game as the Rugby Africa annual general meeting held in Kasane, Botswana at the beginning of December confirmed that the Sables will not be relegated from the prestigious Division 1A but are instead part of an expanded competition in 2017. According to the fixtures released after the Rugby Africa AGM, Zimbabwe are scheduled to play against Senegal away on 24 June then meet Namibia in Windhoek on 15 July.
Zimbabwe have a home fixture against Kenya in Bulawayo on 22 July with Tunisia making the trip to Harare a week later. The Sables travel to Uganda for their last assignment of the competition on 5 August.
This is a crucial year for the Sables as indications are that the winner of the Africa Cup Division 1A in 2017 will automatically qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan while the second placed side has an opportunity to make it to the competition via the repechage tournament.
@Mdawini_29
