The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Mixed fortunes for Cheetahs

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and two more touch downs by Ngoni Chibwe and Lenience Tambwera as well as a conversion set the Cheetahs for their confidence boosting triumph over Papua New Guinea.

But it was the manner in which they got their game against Germany off to flier with brilliant team try in which Chitokwind­o, who plies his trade with TV Pfozheim in German, was at the hub, which caught the eye.

The brilliant try in which the Zimbabwean­s made four passes on their way to touching down was also trending on World Rugby TV yesterday and Nyamutsamb­a reckoned that his charges could reproduce more of such performanc­es if they were to play tournament rugby regularly.

“Magical! Zimbabwe show incredible skill to keep the ball alive & score brilliant try at the Men’s Sevens Series Qualifier,’’ read the caption on the World Rugby website.

A turnover of possession inside their half saw Chitokwind­o waltz his way before laying on the ball in a sleek move that was completed d by Riaan O’Neil who plays his club rugby with False Bay in Cape Town.

Nyamutsamb­a also felt that his charges had committed some errors that could have been avoided and which proved costly for them against the Germans.

“We had a good start…winning is always a good moral booster, so far a lot of positives have come out on day one of the tournament.

“PNG have played in several world tournament­s from last year and this year, hence they were rated favourites in our group, a win over a team ranked higher shows that our team can still be competitiv­e at a higher level.

“The Germany game didn’t go our way despite the early lead we had. A few mistakes and they capitalise­d on our errors to win the game.

“Hopefully, we will minimise the error rate against Hong Kong. It’s never easy to play the hosts in front of their loud crowd. Patience and control will be key for us against them in this all or nothing game which is the path way to the quarter-finals,’’ Nyamutsamb­a said.

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