Cheetahs aiming for CAR title: Hondo

Sport
ZIMBABWE national Sevens rugby side, the Cheetahs, will be gunning for nothing but the title when they host the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Sevens tournament at the end of the month, the team’s assistant coach Daniel Hondo has said.

ZIMBABWE national Sevens rugby side, the Cheetahs, will be gunning for nothing but the title when they host the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Sevens tournament at the end of the month, the team’s assistant coach Daniel Hondo has said. HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER

The 12-team tournament will be held at Prince Edward School on November 29 to 30 and the Cheetahs squad is expected to start trooping into camp at the Innovate High Performance Centre starting on Monday.

Cheetahs
Cheetahs

Besides the hosts, other teams that will feature at the tournament are South Africa (Saru Academy), Kenya (Shujaa), Uganda, Tunisia, Nigeria, Madagascar, Namibia, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia and Ivory Coast Zimbabwe are in a tough group as they were drawn up to play against powerhouses Kenya, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Namibia and Uganda at the tournament.

Winning the tournament or finishing the highest ranked non-core team on the IRB World Sevens Series will see Zimbabwe qualifying as a core-team at the Hong Kong World Sevens next March.

And for Hondo, that is their target.

“We are looking forward to the training camp and the tournament itself,” he said.

“We need to do well to qualify for the Hong Kong World Sevens. It is important to do well for our ranks in Africa. We have everything to play for.

“We are playing on home soil and we should do well. We are just hoping the crowd would come and cheer the boys, it would boost the players’ spirits.”

The former captain also spoke about the group in which his team is in and the chances they have in progressing to the later stages and probably winning it, singling out Kenya and Namibia as the two teams who he thinks might give his side some problems.

“We are a very good side and we will not underestimate any team,” he said.

“I think Kenya and Namibia are our greatest threat in the group, but we will prepare for them and should beat them. Like I said we are playing at home so we will not easily be intimidated by anyone.”

Kenya, however, is expected to field second string sides. Together with another regional powerhouse South Africa, they are the only core teams from Africa on the IRB World Sevens Series and Zimbabwe are bidding to become the third African country to attain the lucrative core status.

Golden Lions loose forward Lambert Groenewald, who made his debut for the Zimbabwe 15’s side in the World Cup qualifiers mid-year, has been called up alongside three other new players – Morgan Vangue, Taku Kamudire and Mkhululi Ndlela.

Vangue currently plays his rugby in Germany alongside compatriot Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, who is also in the squad.

Although not a dominant force in Sevens rugby as compared to the XVs format, Namibia has showed their intent of the tournament with reports from Windhoek yesterday suggesting that they have included four members of the senior team.