Cheetahs confident

Jacques Leitao during the Rugby World Cup qualifier match against Kenya in July this year in Antananarivo in Madagasscar

ZIMBABWE Cheetahs captain, Jacques Leitao says they need to stretch themselves at the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Sevens tournament set for November 29 and 30 at Prince Edward School in Harare.  Winning the two-day tournament would mean that the Gilbert Nyamutsamba-coached side remain on course in their quest to qualify for the rugby Sevens core membership status.

The Cheetahs would qualify for the Hong Kong World Sevens Series which will also be used as a qualifying event for the World Rugby Sevens Series core membership status to be held in March next year. Lack of progress towards attaining core status, analysts say stifles the growth of the shorter version of the game in the country. However, for the Cheetahs, winning the tournament is not the only way to qualify for Hong Kong World Sevens Series as they can still sneak in through the back door if they finish the tournament as the highest ranked non-core member outside South Africa and Kenya.

South Africa and Kenya will be the only nations at the tournament already on the core circuit and Zimbabwe aim to become the third African country to attain the lucrative core status. “We still believe in ourselves, we still believe in our ability,” the Cheetahs captain told the Financial Gazette.

“At the end of the day, we are playing at home, and that means something. We have to go out and stretch ourselves. We have to make sure that every time we take to that pitch (at Prince Edward School) we are going to win. That is the attitude we have to possess on Saturday and Sunday for us to remain on course towards securing core membership status.”

Cheetahs’ assistant coach Daniel Hondo who has been an integral part of the Cheetahs for close to a decade before calling time on his illustrious international career weighed in saying: “The good thing is that we are playing at home and we will bank on that. We are looking forward to qualify for Hong Kong next year.”

The CAR Sevens tournament, a 12 -team tournament will feature hosts Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Nigeria, Madagascar, Namibia, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia and Ivory Coast. The Zimbabwe Rugby Union director of coaching, Brighton Chivandire is also confident that the national Sevens rugby side will win the tournament.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for rugby players to showcase their talent in front of the home fans,” said Chivandire.

“We are going out there to win (the Sevens tournament) it because our goal is to qualify for Hong Kong as we try to secure core status.  But it’s down to players but I know we have the personnel to take the Cheetahs to the highest level and we are going to shock someone one day and it’s going to be soon. I have faith in the players, in the technical team and everyone who has supported rugby. That makes me proud and this is probably the reason why I had to put my head on the block and accepted this job (of director of rugby).”

He added: “We can’t host this tournament and can’t win it. We are playing at Prince Edward School — the home of rugby in Zimbabwe. I am so excited but we want the fans to come in their numbers and make so much noise so that our opponents won’t hear each other and as a result fail to coordinate a try. When we play at Prince Edward, I don’t want us to be like we are playing in Windhoek (in Namibia).”

Core status allows associations to be run professionally and comes with benefits such as participation in all the nine tournaments on the IRB World Sevens Series circuit. At the moment, Zimbabwe only takes part in selected tournaments on the circuit on an invitational basis and players are contracted on a tournament to tournament basis.

Core status also comes with financial assistance from IRB which will allow more development programmes and widen teams’ scope of preparations. Zimbabwe’s perpetual quest for core status has been under criticism and scrutiny after its poor show at the IRB Sevens Series where the team failed to qualify for the elite league.

The Cheetahs went into camp on November 24. Some of the foreign based players who are in camp include Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Wesley Mbanje, Gerald Sibanda, Njabulo Ndlovu and Gardner Nechironga. Captain Jacques Leitao, Fortune Chipendo and Stephen Hundudza are also in camp.

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