The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema in Victoria Falls
COOL, calm and collected, Cheetahs’ head coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba yesterday cast the figure of content man.
After his charges’ near flawless start to the second edition of the Kwese Victoria Falls Sevens tournament, Nyamutsamba declared that the best was yet to come.
“We have had a good start to the tournament; our first couple of wins have been quite convincing, and I am happy with the performance of the boys. It is my hope now that we can continue with that momentum for the rest of the tournament,” he said.
Nyamutsamba had just watched his side breeze through the opening day of the Kwese Sevens at Victoria Falls Primary School with impressive wins over Zambia B (26-0), Lesotho (51-0) and False Bay (14-0), before losing 12-14 against Kenya.
But when asked to rate the Cheetahs show against the challenges that are coming, next month’s Hong Kong Sevens and the Sevens World Cup, Nyamutsamba admitted that he would have loved to pit his wits against stronger opposition.
“Listen, after having seen both the Kenyan and Ugandan sides play, I happy that they brought strong competitive sides and it will certainly be a tough and tricky tournament,” he said.
“However, I would have liked more. I would have really preferred to play in more tournaments; more competitive tournaments that is.
“It would have made for better reading had we faced stronger sides; teams, say, we will meet at next month’s Hong Kong Sevens tournament and the World Cup. But as usual, we have to do the best with what we have got and right now this is the best of what’s there.” Germany and Hong Kong did not make it to the tournament as their invitations were sent late.
To cover the gap, Zimbabwe brought in the Cheetahs, Goshawks and the Zambezi Steelers.
“We have actually come out with three fairly competitive teams and I am even pleased that our second team performed really well and actually out-performed Zambia.
It just goes to show the large pool of players that we have here,” said Nyamutsamba
Selected Results
Zambezi Steelers 26-14 Spartans (Botswana)
Goshawks 31- 19 Zambia A
Goshawks 21- 5 Zambezi Steelers
Cheetahs 26-0 Zambia B
Uganda 24-10 Zambezi Steelers
Cheetahs 51-0 Lesotho
Goshawks 14-19 Uganda
Cheetahs 14-0 False Bay
Zambia A 33-7 Zambezi Steelers
