The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Deputy Sports Editor
IT has been a very busy and stressful couple of weeks for Zimbabwe rugby Sevens coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba.
With his Cheetahs involved in a two-week-long tour of South America — in Chile and Uruguay — during which the country made an appearance at the inaugural World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, Nyamutsamba barely had time to celebrate his 49th birthday last Thursday.
“It’s been a very long tour, you see, as we have been away for something like three weeks, during which we went to South Africa, Chile and Uruguay.
“We had our first taste of the second- tier Sevens tournament, in Chile and Uruguay, where the boys held their own.
“We just arrived back home, and it almost escaped me that I just turned 49 today (Thursday),” said Nyamutsamba.
In terms of celebration, there was very little to report.
“I will probably just take it easy for the next couple of days, and spend time with my family,” said Nyamutsamba.
He did, however, reveal what he terms as a wish list from his paymasters, the Zimbabwe Rugby Union.
“Like I have said in earlier interviews; the game of sevens rugby is fast getting traction, and it is my wish that we join the party and start taking the sport seriously lest we run the risk of getting left behind.
“One of the biggest takeaways from this Challenger series was how much time and effort countries around the world are investing into the format and, for many, it is starting to reap rewards.
“We are one of the few countries that don’t really try to market ourselves using Sevens rugby, while countries like Brazil and Colombia, which are predominantly not rugby playing nations, have seen the value of the format and invested a lot of time and effort into it,” he said. Nyamutsamba also highlighted some short- and long-term goals for the Cheetahs.
“There are what I would like call long-term goals and that is the establishment of a national Sevens league.
“This would give us a platform, from which to start grassroots development, monitor players and play more Sevens rugby.
“Inasfar as short-term goals are concerned, we have qualified for the third and final leg of the series, in Hong Kong, and also have the Olympic qualifiers (Repechage tournament) in June.
“Ideally, I would prefer that we have, in terms of preparations for the Olympic qualifiers, two high-performance camps and at the very least two regional tournaments and a local one before we take part in the Repechage tournament.
“This will help ensure we are conditioned right and more game time helps with momentum, team chemistry and form,” he said.
It is with the Hong Kong leg of the World Challenger Series that things get murky. Due to the novel coronavirus outbreak that has hit China and other parts of Asia, the Hong Kong Sevens series — together with the Singapore Sevens tournament — have since been pushed back and will now be held in October, serving as the closing act of the 2020 HSBC Sevens’ series.
The tournament will now be held on October 16-18, news that has been received with mixed feelings by the gaffer.
“Well, I view this development in two ways; firstly, it comes as a hindrance, to our plans.
“We run the risk of losing the momentum we had gained in the past couple of weeks, as we will have a long break between now and the Olympic qualifiers and another to the Hong Kong Sevens itself.
“Despite the not so-pleasing finishes in Chile and Uruguay we achieved our main targets, which were to qualify for the next stage at both tour- naments.
“Our eighth-place finishes also guarantee us a place in next year’s edition.
“There have been marked improvements in each and every tournament we played, and I was particularly proud of the fact that the boys performed much better in both Chile and Uruguay than they did at the Africa Cup.
“They played with a lot more intensity and a lot more accuracy, but, now, all that momentum might be lost if we don’t get enough game time between now and the Olympic qualifiers and the Hong Kong Sevens.
“The only good to come out of the postponement of the Hong Kong Sevens is that it gives us more time to iron out our game plan and also make sure we have all our players match-ready and available.
“That, however, will require that a proper programme is put in place where we will have those two high-performance camps and regular tournaments,” he said.
