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Mehluli Sibanda in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

LACK of enough game time cost Zimbabwe big time at the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens which concluded at Bosman Stadium on Saturday where the Cheetahs finished third thereby fall short in their quest to secure direct qualification for next year’s Olympics.

Zimbabwe also failed to defend their Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens title which they had won last year in Tunisia with a win over Kenya in the final. It was instead the Kenyans who were crowned African champions and secured automatic qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Runners up Uganda and Zimbabwe still have a chance of making it to Japan but through a tougher route in the repêchage to be staged in June next year where they will meet runners up from the other continental qualifiers.

Just one defeat throughout the tournament, a 24-12 loss to Uganda on the final day changed everything for the Cheetahs who looked destined to make it to the final.

Coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba strongly believes that they failed to achieve direct qualification to the Olympics not because of lack of ability on the part of his players but it came down to the teams that had the best preparation leading up to the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens.

He is convinced that with enough exposure, they cannot only match Kenya but even the other World Rugby Sevens Series teams.

“The only difference with the teams that we played is that they, the team that actually won, the only difference is not really on the skill, it’s the fact that they play more tournaments than us, so the more tournaments that we can get as a team I see us being able to match not only Kenya but the World Series teams,” Nyamutsamba said.

He is yearning for continuity by giving his players more tournaments to prepare for the Olympic qualifier and keeping the team together.

“The biggest difference with the teams that go to the final is that they played more games so it’s not really about what has gone wrong in the two days, it’s how we prepared for the tournament, we unfortunately did not get enough game time, the team only met a week before and that’s the only time we actually started preparing. Going forward the most important would be continuity, if we can keep the team together and get them into more tournaments I actually see a whole lot of potential and I am sure the team can only get better.”

Cheetahs captain, Stephan Hunduza’s shared in his coach’s sentiments, with the skipper stating that they need to play in more tournaments as they prepare to have another shot at Olympic qualification next year.

“It was a long time without playing together as a team with the squad we had but we managed to pull through, I am sure from here we need to stay together, we need to play some two tournaments again before we play again as a team, I am sure we will manage to do better than what we did today,” Hunduza said.

The Cheetahs had a sluggish start to the tournament with a 24-21 triumph over Nigeria in the first round of fixtures on Friday. Nigeria were to be the first opponents for Zimbabwe again in the group stages, with the Cheetahs turning on the heat to win 47-0. Zimbabwe beat Zambia 19-7 to end the first day with three wins. Madagascar, Zimbabwe’s last group stage opponents proved to be tricky opponents, with the Cheetahs having to work hard for their 15-12 victory.

Uganda proved to be just too good for Zimbabwe and denied the Cheetahs a place in the final. While speedster Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Hunduza, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Connor Pritchard, Biselele Tshamala as well as Tapiwa Tsomondo did show some flashes of brilliance, it was evident that the Cheetahs lacked game time and they paid the price when it counted the most. Injury to burly centre Shingirai Katsvere on the first day did not help matters, with Martin Mangongo stepping up to replace him.