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Takudzwa Chitsiga and Davison Bhunu
ZIMBABWE rugby sevens coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba has welcomed his side’s draw for the upcoming World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series where his team was drawn against South American teams Chile, Brazil and Mexico.

The Cheetahs will take part in the tournament which is designed to develop the next generation of rugby players and also take the sport to non-traditional rugby territories.

Zimbabwe are in Pool D of the competition and will have a chance to join South Africa and Kenya in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games if they do well.

Africa has been given an opportunity to field three teams in which Zimbabwe and Uganda have the chance. Cheetahs coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba said they are still holding trials and which will end on January 26.

Nyamutsamba, however, assured that they are up to something as his trial camp is geared up for the fixtures as it is a new tournament to them.

“We are still holding trials that will end on January 26 and are mainly concentrated on locally-based players but the boys are exited of the tournament because they are new to it and l think we will perform well.”

The World Repechage Cup is set for June and Zimbabwe, who are Sevens Challenger Series participants, will join Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Mexico, Tonga and Uganda.

Zimbabwe have a good chance of breaking its duck to join Kenya and South Africa who have already secured their tickets to the Olympics in Japan later this year.

Coach Nyamutsamba welcomed the draw but is more concerned about his team’s game against Chile.
The Cheetahs usually have challenges as they get in camp late while most of the players are based abroad and it takes time for them to jell.

Nyamutsamba is more concerned about the Chile game as he believes they are difficult to beat, especially in their own background.

“Yes, l saw the draw but the Chile game might be the trickiest because Chile are a good side, especially when they are playing at home. There are no easy targets for all the three teams and we need to work hard as they are not easy targets,” said Nyamutsamba.

The Cheetahs squad will also include some foreign-based players which the coach says will be called soon after the trials with locals who he has been working together with.

“We are holding trials but mainly on locally-based players but after the trials on January 26 we will also call some of the foreign-based players into the team.”

The Sevens Challenger Series is an international rugby sevens competition which will be launched in February 2020 by World Rugby.

The men’s series will feature 13 core teams from the six World Rugby regions who will compete over two rounds alongside three invitational teams.

The top eight core teams after the two rounds will then compete in the final play-off tournament for a spot in the premier World Rugby Sevens Series, replacing the bottom-placed core team in the World Series for the following season. It is also hoped that the launch of both a men’s tournament and a women’s competition – to be announced later in the year – will promote the rugby sevens ahead of Tokyo 2020, which will see the sport return to the Olympics following its inclusion at Rio 2016.

Draw
Group A: Japan, Tonga, Portugal, Uruguay
Group B: Hong Kong, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, ColombiaGroup C: Germany, Uganda, Italy, Paraguay
Group D: Chile, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Mexico