NEW: Cheetahs’ skipper salutes teammates

26 Apr, 2022 - 10:04 0 Views
NEW: Cheetahs’ skipper salutes teammates

The Sunday Mail

Online Reporter

IT might not have been pretty, but they got the job done!

That was at least the indication from Cheetahs’ skipper Kudzai Mashawi soon as Zimbabwe booked their ticket to a third successive Rugby World Cup, courtesy of a second-place finish at the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament in Uganda on Sunday.

The Cheetahs needed to finish in the top three of the competition to book their ticket to the premier stand-alone international rugby Sevens competition outside the Olympic Games.

However, the new-look youthful side got off to the worst possible start, suffering a shock 12-14 defeat to Burkina Faso in their first game of the tournament on Saturday.

Fortunately, they managed to bounce back to beat Madagascar 40-10, narrowly going down to Kenya 21-19, and grind a result against Namibia in wet and almost unplayable conditions to go through to the knock-out stages.

The team ultimately secured the ticket courtesy of a 26-17 win over neighbours Zambia in the semi-final.

While they did fall cheaply to the hosts in the final, going down 28-0, the work had already been done.

In his first interview since the team’s return on Monday, skipper Kudzai Mashawi lauded the team for showing great character to fight and secure their ticket to the World Cup.

“Yeah, we started off on a very slow note, losing that first game, and put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” said Mashawi.

“However, thanks to the Man above and the boys showing a lot of character, we managed to dig deep and finish top in our group.

“We managed to dig deep again in the semi-final and control our own fate in qualifying for the World Cup.

“Winning that game against Zambia really put us in a good space as we really didn’t want to play either Uganda or Kenya with the World Cup slot on the line,” he said.

While some of the team’s performances left a lot to be desired, and they benefitted from results in other games going their way, Mashawi still believes there were some positives to take from the Cheetahs’ trip to Uganda.

“There were a lot of positives to come out of this tournament, especially when you look at how we fared against the bigger teams.

“Also, while the final did not go our way, the fight and character the boys displayed throughout the tournament were great.

“We showed a great mindsight to believe in ourselves, especially when you consider that some results (Burkina Faso) did not go our way, we were in a really tough group and the Sevens’ game is unpredictable,” he said.

With the Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens tournament now done and dusted, the boys are expected to get a few days off to rest both their minds and bodies, after which focus turns to the World Cup tournament itself.

The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens will be played from September 9 to September 11 at the Cape Town Stadium in South Africa, giving the team a couple of months to right the ship.

This will be their sixth overall participation at the World  Cup after the 1997, 2001, 2009, 2013 and 2018 editions.

 

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