Nyamutsamba speaks on Kwese Sevens

Petros Kausiyo

ZIMBABWE coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba wants to use this weekend’s Kwese Sevens International rugby tournament as a platform to identify talented players to infuse in his Africa Cup squad later in the year.

This year’s Kwese tourney has moved from its traditional base in Victoria Falls to Harare Sports Club on Saturday and Sunday.

Nyamutsamba, seeking to maximise on home advantage, has called up 24 players in camp as the hosts will have the luxury of fielding two teams — the Cheetahs and the squad of fringe players, the Goshawks.

The Cheetahs coach said this weekend’s tournament would also kick-start their build up to the Africa Cup competition which this year will double as the qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

“Our main objective is the Africa Cup, which is doubling up as the Olympic qualifier, so everything that we are going to do this year is to work and build towards that.

“We have asked for a number of tournaments before that big one and the Kwese is the first of those tournaments.

“For this one we are fielding two teams so that we get a good opportunity to look at 24 players that we have. “I have asked mostly our local players and I have identified a few young players that have never played for the national team before. “So, we are going to use this tournament for talent identification and see exactly where we are and what we need to work on going forward,’’ Nyamutsamba said.

The Cheetahs coach said he would after this weekend’s tournament blend the youth and more seasoned players such as Shayne Makombe and Tafadzwa Chitokwindo ahead of the tougher Hong Kong competition.