The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Cheetahs Academy will regroup after a tournament of mixed fortunes at the Safari Sevens in Kenya over the weekend.
A 29-12 loss to Uganda on Sunday saw the young academy side relegated to a sixth-place finish, out of 12 teams at the annual tournament.
However, for coach Graham Kaulback, it was not all gloom and doom, as the former Zimbabwe sevens international believes the tournament was a good starting point for this young Cheetahs Academy side.
In fact, Kaulback is proud of the effort from his charges.
“I am really proud of the effort the Cheetahs Academy put together in Kenya at the Safari Sevens,” said Kaulback.
“Obviously, some of the results didn’t go our way and we were not as consistent as we would have liked to be.
“We are not happy with a sixth-place finish (out of 12), but in the same breath, I am very proud.
“There were glimpses, portions and games of really good performances, which I was happy with, and now we have lots and lots of work to do,” he said.
The young side can take solace from the fact that two of their group opponents, Germany and Shujaa Kenya, ended up as the tournament’s finalists.
Shujaa Kenya emerged victorious, courtesy of a 12-5 win in the final played at Nyayo stadium on Sunday.
Zimbabwe played Germany twice, with the first encounter turning out to be one of their best showing of the tournament.
That match ended 15-17 in favour of the Europeans.
The two teams met again in the quarterfinals, in which Zimbabwe had squeezed through as one of the third-placed teams of the group stages.
In that match, Germany were the runaway winners, with a 32-14 victory.
“In our pool, we had Germany and Kenya, who both made it to the cup final in the end, with Germany just losing out,” said the Cheetahs gaffer.
“We had a very good showing against Germany in the first game, which we probably should have won.
“However, it was a great experience, and we really need to play more tournaments of this nature going forward,” he said.
