Cheetahs happy with silver
DESPITE Zimbabwe narrowly go down to Zambia A in the final of the Windhoek Draught International Sevens in Lusaka on Sunday, Zambezi Cheetahs manager Donald Mangenje is convinced the senior side are on the right track.
The team is preparing for next month’s crucial Africa Cup tournament in Uganda.
The Cheetahs fell 14-12 at the hands of the hosts and will probably reflect on their failure with the conversions as one of the reasons they didn’t win.
A look at the statistics of their games on the opening day of the two-day tourney in which they had a success rate of 45 percent had showed how much the boot was also letting the Cheetahs down.
They managed to convert 20 points and lost 24 from lack of precision with the boot.
But it is the bigger picture of the mission to Lusaka and beyond that coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba and Mangenje are drawing a lot of positives fro.
They will tour Lesotho before the Cheetahs take their World Cup qualification bid by participating at the Africa Cup in Kampala, Uganda, early next month.
The Cheetahs and their second string side the Goshawks made their road trip back to Harare yesterday and after handing caps to no less than five players from their 12-man squad.
Zimbabwe recorded some convincing wins, including a 62-0 demolition of Lesotho, a 37-5 triumph over Botswana while they were also shocked 20-12 by Midlands Select in their opening assignment of the tourney.
“I think the tournament was good for us in terms of achieving what we wanted and that basically was looking at new players and seeing how they fit into the squad going forward and I think we basically did that.
“We have identified players that can take us forward and we have also identified players that will not be able to take us into the Africa Cup and basically that is the start we wanted as we go into the next one.
“We had five debutants in our squad which is quite a large number if you look at continuity but I think basically we have achieved what wanted because out of those debutants, we had some, at least two, we can take forward to gel with the rest of the squad that didn’t come for this tournament.
“So for us it was a good tournament and we have just but gained what we needed to do,’’ Mangenje said.
Among those who made their Cheetahs bow in Lusaka was United Kingdom-based Mark Kidson, Tarisai Mugariri, and Shingirai Hlanguyo.
Mangenje said they were now looking to combine some of the new faces together with some seasoned players who missed the Lusaka trip.
“In terms of what we need to do between and the Africa Cup, we now need to gel those that have seen in Lusaka and those that didn’t come for this tournament and see what we come up with so that we can come up with 18 players and from those 18 players we can see those that can do duty in Uganda.’’
The former Cheetahs and Sables international is, however, concerned by the fact that the Cheetahs are having to prepare for such a big tournament like the Africa Cup at a time when there is no domestic Sevens League in action.
“Obviously, you need players to be playing rugby and there is no rugby being played locally be it Sevens or Fifteens,’’ Mangenje said.
The Cheetahs technical crew also received the backing of outgoing Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge.
Mandenge, who worked in a tough operating environment as the Sables struggled in their Africa Gold Cup Group A1 campaign, said it was imperative that Zimbabwean rugby urgently undergo a massive soul-searching exercise in order to come up with solutions to the problems afflicting the national game.
“Obviously as coaches we would want to win every tournament and every game that we play but I hope people will not rush into trying to panic and blame Gilbert for not winning the tournament in Zambia.”