The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
NEWLY-appointed Zimbabwe rugby sevens skipper Hilton Mudariki is excited by the challenge and wants to take-off in style. The 22-year old scrum-half wants to skipper the Cheetahs to next year’s Rio Olympic Games. Mudariki reckons the disappointment of failing to achieve core status in the sevens’ circuit earlier this year and the preparations they have had so far has put the team on the path to the Olympics.
The Olympic qualifiers are set for South Africa next month.
Mudariki is impressed with the way preparations for the November qualifiers have been going with the team playing featuring at tournaments in Namibia and Kenya over the past two weeks.
“We have been training hard as a unit for months now and had our first international assignment last week in Namibia where I think we played some good rugby.
“In Namibia, I think we gave the South Africans, who beat us in the final, way too much respect and it is the area we are hoping to fix in Kenya at the Safari Sevens.
“After that we will have about six weeks of training before we travel to South Africa for the Olympic Games qualifiers, and I’m hoping we use that time to iron out any remaining weaknesses,” said Mudariki.
Gaffer Daniel Hondo, however, believes that there were more positives than negatives to take away from the trip to Namibia and remains optimistic of a positive outing at both the on-going Safari Sevens and Olympic qualifiers next month.
“I think the trip to Namibia was good for us; we played five games, won four and lost just one.
“The boys played well in the four games and in the final we learnt that we have got to take every game as it comes and not worry about our opponents too much.
“The boys have learnt that one gets one chance to make it happen and in sport they are no second chances. It is a lesson we are taking to Kenya and South Africa and hopefully the boys will take every chance that comes their way and make it count,” he said.
