Sables fight for Africa Cup Division 1A survival
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union president Nyararai Sibanda says his leadership will do everything in their powers to ensure that the Sables remain in the prestigious Africa Cup Division 1A.
The Sables made a disastrous start to the 2016 instalment of the competition when they were beaten 61-15 by Kenya at Police Grounds in Harare last Saturday.
The result saw the Cyprian Mandengecoached team rooted to the bottom of the four team table.
Kenya were on top of the log with five points before they met Namibia yesterday, the same number as the Namibians while Uganda were third with one point.
Zimbabwe must beat Uganda in their second match at Police Grounds on Saturday with a bonus point and hope that the Ugandans do not win away to Kenya on 30 July.
The Sables play against Namibia in their last match of this year’s competition on 6 August in Windhoek which will be a tough outing considering that Zimbabwe were thumped 80-6 in the Namibian capital last year. Sibanda, speaking on the sidelines of the Under-18 Coca-Cola Craven Week here, disclosed that they were doing all they could to ensure that the Sables were not relegated to Division 1B. Should the Sables go down, this will have devastating consequences for Zimbabwean rugby which has been on an upward trend since 2009. For the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the winners of the 2014 Africa Cup automatically booked a ticket to England which is why Zimbabwe must remain in that elite group if they stand a chance of making it to Japan in 2019. “We are doing all we can to make sure that the Sables win against Uganda, whatever the coach and the players want we will give them but that has to be within our means. “We have no sponsors at the moment,’’ said Sibanda. The Sables players almost did not take to the field against Kenya over unfulfilled promises which had seen them not getting their allowances for all the matches they played in 2015 from where they had been promised $300 per game.
Sources close to said players wanted a guarantee from Sibanda, his two vicepresidents Tapiwa Mangezi and Noddy Kanyangarara that said they would receive something at the end of the match.
It is understood that the ZRU presidium could not give any assurances because the funds from where the players and the technical team were paid were from the gate takings.
Information obtained by this publication shows each player and every member of the Sables technical team were given $115 after the Kenya game which they were happy about since the situation had been explained to them.
Meanwhile, the Sables get into camp in Harare today as they fine tune for the clash against Uganda.
The Harare-based players have been training after the Kenya game while those domiciled outside the country are expected to start arriving from today.
Sibanda revealed that they were going to make sure that Mandenge gets most of the players he needs for the match.