Sables have reason to believe GO SABLES GO . . . Sables coach Brendan Dawson (centre) addresses a press conference at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union head office yesterday in the company of assistant coach Cyprian Mandenge (right) and director of rugby Liam Middleton
GO SABLES GO . . . Sables coach Brendan Dawson (centre) addresses a press conference at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union head office yesterday in the company of assistant coach Cyprian Mandenge (right) and director of rugby Liam Middleton

GO SABLES GO . . . Sables coach Brendan Dawson (centre) addresses a press conference at the Zimbabwe Rugby Union head office yesterday in the company of assistant coach Cyprian Mandenge (right) and director of rugby Liam Middleton

Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
SABLES assistant coach Cyprian “Supa” Mandenge believes Zimbabwe have a better chance of beating Namibia this time around as the local players are active due to the rugby season about to reach the halfway mark.
Last year the Sables lost to Namibia in an invitational tournament in Windhoek but the two sides are again expected to meet at a bigger stage with the incentive being a place at the 2012 World Cup finals.

“That we narrowly lost to Namibia last year, with just a week of training, has given a reason to believe to the boys that we can go and conquer because some of the guys had (other) commitments,” said Mandenge.

“Our players here were off season, but at the moment, we are mid-season so, besides the competition, the guys are looking forward to going to the World Cup.
“Some of the guys that are coming from oversees might have an edge in that they are playing in a professional set-up.

“The 10-day camp we have is going to help us because in the three days we have been working together you might not be able to pick it up so I think we are all on the same page.”

While other players like eighth-man Takunda Chifokoyo and Nick Winwood have indicated they are not available for the camp and Andrew Rose has been sitting out of training sessions due to a calf injury, Zimbabwe Rugby Union director of rugby Liam Middleton said they have enough cover material.

The former Cheetahs coach described the squad as the most complete Sables team Zimbabwe has had in a long time adding they are actually going to have selection headache when it comes to trimming it down to the travelling party.

“We have a very rounded squad and I think from the technical perspective we could look at the squad and I think it’s a good position for us to be in,” said the Englishman.

“I have not been involved with the Sables for a long time but with the Sevens I have always found that when coaching Zimbabwean teams there is an area we lacked a little bit and we always had to tactically cover our weakness.

“But when I look at this squad we are covered 1-15 and certain players are good enough to be in the squad so I don’t really have concerns in that perspective .
“What will make things difficult for us is to size it down to a 26-man squad from the 36 we have in camp.

“Nick Winwood could have come to the camp so we made a selection decision on him that we looked at the make-up of that position in the squad and we decided that we have enough quality for us not to bring him to camp and so we moved him to the reserve list.

“Andrew Rose played for us last year in Namibia where he put up quite a number of good performances so we wait to see on him.
“Everyone is fighting for a position here because there isn’t going to be a big difference between the first choice open side and the third choice open side, it’s going to be one or two percent here and there and that is a good position for us.

“We do a little bit of fitness test today (yesterday) and we will have a look at the medical report from our physiotherapist and we will put our sides up. We want a very good match of two equally good teams.”

Coach Brendan Dawson added that all the players were focused on playing New Zealand and this is one of the biggest reason they want to make it to the World Cup where they will rub their shoulders with the world’s greatest.

“All these players out there want to play NZ, their mindset is even stronger than anybody else because they want to do it.
“Zimbabwe has a record against New Zealand and they want to keep it.

“Everybody wants to go to the World Cup and if your are a rugby player who wants to play at the top level then there is nothing greater than going to a World Cup and playing New Zealand is probably one of the greatest achievements any player could accomplish,” said Dawson.

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