Sables go for the kill

Zimbabwe Sables battle it out with Kenya in Bulawayo on Saturday in an Africa Gold Cup match.

By Austin Karonga

INJURED Zimbabwe senior men’s rugby 15s captain, Denford Mutamangira, is not giving up the fight and is desperate to take to the field against Kenya at Hartsfield Grounds in Bulawayo this Saturday in an Africa Gold Cup encounter.
The 33-year-old Harare Sports Club prop suffered a crack of the collar bone last weekend in Namibia and despite the injury being described as minor, the doctors have prescribed a seven-day rest effectively ruling the forward out of the Kenya tie.
However, yesterday Mutamangira who is scheduled to leave this morning for Bulawayo with the rest of his teammates insists that he would be able to play a part in Saturday’s match.
“I think I’m feeling much better today, (Wednesday). There’s a huge improvement and I will be going for the evening training just to position myself for the match ahead of our departure tomorrow (Thursday) morning,” Mutamangira said.
“I should be fine to play judging by the way I feel right now although there’s been a precautionary time frame given to me by the doctors to recover. We have started well in this Africa Gold Cup campaign and do not want to desert the boys at this crucial time we are looking to carry on the momentum we had against Namibia,” he said.
Mutamangira began his rugby career with Harare Sports Club in 2004 before he left to join AYR in Scotland winning the Scottish Premiership title in 2013.
In the 2013/2014 season, the powerful forward was part of the backup squad for Glasgow Warriors, where he played in their pre-season friendly before being named as part of the 38-man squad for the Heineken Cup.
The Sables skipper won the Africa Cup with the national side in 2014 and his crowning moment came in 2015 where he was honoured for his love, dedication and passion for the national team when he was named the Sables captain. He took over from retired ex-skipper Daniel Hondo who is now the head coach at Harare Sports Club.
The former Churchill schoolboy was also on the radar of South African side Durban Sharks ahead of the 2015 Currie Cup and was scheduled to play for them against Xerox Golden Lions, but was side-lined with a knee injury.
He talks about his team’s chances against Kenya on a wide Hartsfield ground.
“It’s quite a heavy field and very wide as well which means that more work need to be done. They like playing running rugby, and I think they will enjoy the field, but the fact that we are playing at home makes it a must-win encounter for us,” Mutamangira said.
“We have a few guys who have played on that ground before so we are not totally new to Hartsfield; we also have our InterCity Rugby League fixtures there as well. It is important to win, we know they beat us last time, but we have been improving with each and every outing so it’s going to be an exciting encounter, a revenge mission kind of match,” he said.
Zimbabwe have won one match and lost one so far in their campaign; a 28-16 victory over Senegal in Dakar last month and last weekend’s 31-26 defeat against Namibia in Windhoek.
Their opponent, Kenya drew 33-33 against Uganda in Nairobi before winning their last two encounters- a 100-10 mauling of Tunisia and 45-25 over Senegal.