Good day in the office for Zim Cheetahs

Zimpapers Sports Hub

ZIMBABWE secured a passage to the knockout stages of the Mauritius Sevens as the first leg of the Africa Cup got off to a blistering start yesterday at Labourdonnais Stadium in Port-Louis.

This year’s edition of the Rugby Africa Cup will be played in two phases across two weekends, with the team having the highest point tally being crowned champions.

It was one of two changes made as South Africa returned to the competition and participated in their first one since 2014.

The African giants, using this tournament as preparation for next month’s Olympic Games, came in as a last-minute replacement for Ghana, who withdrew at the eleventh hour. They were placed in Pool C, alongside Algeria, Zambia and, of course, the Zimbabwe Cheetahs

Despite a surprise 7-5 win by Burkina Faso over defending Kenya, the opening day of the first leg largely went according to script as most of the continental Sevens’ heavyweights safely navigated their way out of the group stages.

These included Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The Cheetahs got their campaign off to a blistering start as they thrashed Algeria 52-0 before succumbing to eventual group winners South Africa 10-19.

South Africa finished the day unbeaten as they also eased past Algeria and Zambia.

This set up arguably one of the more tantalising match-ups of the day as neighbours Zimbabwe and Zambia clashed for the automatic second-place spot.

The Cheetahs emerged 29-12 victors in a match that can be described as a game of two halves.

The regional rivals traded tries and bad kicks as the first half ended with scores tied at 12 apiece. Zimbabwe got on the scoreboard, courtesy of tries by Shadreck Mandaza and Ryan Musumhi, with the latter chipping a conversion.

Zambia hit back as wingers David Chimbuhulu and Alex Mwila crossed the line, while Terry Haushihu chipped in with a conversion.

A pep talk from their coach, Ricky Chirengende, during the breather must have worked its magic as the Cheetahs came back for the final seven minutes a different side.

Debutant Thabani “TJ” Maguranyanga hit Zambia with a quick brace as Zimbabwe stretched their lead to 24-12 during the first three minutes of the second stanza.

It could have been more, but Musumhi continued his shaky kicking, converting only one of those tries. He then made up for it all with arguably the best try of the tournament to seal the victory for Zimbabwe. He put the exclamation of the brilliant individual try with a successful conversion to give Zimbabwe the 29-12 win and a passage to today’s quarter-finals.