BY SPORTSCAST WRITER
KAMPALA – Zimbabwe’s rugby team will not rest on its laurels, beyond the on-going Africa Cup here in Uganda, as the Sables prepare for next year’s final onslaught at a World Cup return after three decades in the wilderness.
The Sables did just enough to hang on to a 22-20 win in a nerve-wracking Africa Cup quarter-final against tournament host Uganda on Saturday, so now meet old rivals Namibia in an intriguing semi-final on Wednesday. A third match is guaranteed, either in the final on Sunday against the winner of the other semi-final between Kenya and Algeria, or the third-and-fourth play-off on the same day.
Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) president Losson Mtongwiza told SportsCast in Kampala on Monday that more games are lined up for the Sables when they return home.
“After this tournament, our whole plan is to ensure that we continue to play,” Mtongwiza said.
“In essence, we are looking to play the three games here in Uganda, do well, go back to Zim, and play more top games. We want to play the Limpopo Blue Bulls in Bulawayo. We are also talking to three nations, hopefully to come through to Zim and play us. We are looking to continue playing rugby at national level throughout the off-season. You can see that we have a plan of separating the 15s and Sevens players, to allow us to run tournaments for both formats at the same time throughout the year. We are very interested in making sure that the Sables play about eight Tests this year alone before coming to Uganda again next year to qualify for the World Cup (Editor’s note: presumably meaning the three Tests in Uganda, plus the three more in the pipeline, and the two ‘friendlies’ already played against Zambia few months ago but whose status hasn’t however been clarified). We are very optimistic that we can do it.”
The Sables had looked set for a thumping win over the Ugandans on Saturday after racing to a 22-0 first-half lead, but a lacklustre second-half nearly saw the home side snatch a last-gasp win. This could be attributed to Zimbabwe being underprepared, compared to a much experienced Ugandan side that also had the advantage of a 10-day training camp at the Blue Bulls in South Africa before the Africa Cup.
“On our part it was more deliberate than anything else,” explained Mtongwiza. “We had some funding, but we decided that we were not going to put ourselves under a lot of pressure to spend all that funding before the actual tournament.”
Mtongwiza added that while more foreign-based stars are raising their hands up for Sables selection, the home-based players won’t be left out and will continue to be developed.
“The tide has turned, there are a lot of players that are interested in coming to play for us. We want to tap into those players, get them to come and do their best for Team Zimbabwe. So we are very excited,” he remarked.
“I’m looking forward to a good result on Wednesday against Namibia and a good result on the Sunday against the team that will come through to play us in the final. And then when we go back home, we will continue to progress, promote the team. You can see that we have 14 locally-based players that we brought here to Uganda. So when the professionals have gone back, we will bring the games to Zimbabwe, the Tests, so that we can prepare those 14 players based in Zim and those that didn’t make the cut for this tournament.”
