The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE national sevens rugby team coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba will use this coming weekend’s Kwese Sports Victoria Falls Sevens to assess players with the bigger picture being the Africa Cup in November which will serve as a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup in the United States of America.
Nyamutsamba said they are taking 28 players to Victoria Falls on Tuesday to make up the two squads, Cheetahs and Goshawks. His plan is to complete the final squads with at least 20 locally based players with five coming from South Africa.
He singled out Namibia as the biggest threat for the Cheetahs’ quest to win the inaugural tournament since the Namibians are gearing for next month’s Sevens World Series qualifier in Hong Kong.
He also picked out Zambia as another stumbling block as their game has improved tremendously as shown by their club, Red Arrows beating the two big sides in Zimbabwe, Matabeleland Warriors and Harare Sports Club when they came on tour last month.
“I expect our young up and coming players to compete and take the opportunity to try impress the technical team and as such I expect both our teams to be very competitive in the tournament. Out of the two teams we are looking at fielding about 20 local players and take five players based in South Africa, I am expecting Hilton Mudariki who will captain one of the teams and four other players from South Africa to join the squad for the Wednesday training session,’’ Nyamutsamba said.
Former players have been roped in to assist with mentorship with the likes of Fortune Chipendu, Wesley Mbanje, Tangai Nemadire and Jafet Ndebele helping out to give guidance to the youngsters.
At the Kwese Sports Victoria Falls Sevens to be staged at Victoria Falls Primary School on Saturday and Sunday, Zimbabwe, Zambia as well as Botswana are fielding two teams each while Namibia and Sierra Leone are sending a side each.
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