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NewsDay

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Cheetahs reach Middleburg Sevens final

Sport
The Zimbabwe Sevens rugby side team, the Cheetahs had a good performance on their return to competitive rugby after reaching the Cup final of the Middleburg Sevens tournament in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa on Saturday. The Cheetahs lost 21-5 in the Cup final to the South African Sevens team affectionately known as the Blittzbokke […]

The Zimbabwe Sevens rugby side team, the Cheetahs had a good performance on their return to competitive rugby after reaching the Cup final of the Middleburg Sevens tournament in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa on Saturday.

The Cheetahs lost 21-5 in the Cup final to the South African Sevens team affectionately known as the Blittzbokke with star player Wesley Mbanje scoring a superb try although albeit for a losing cause.

South Africa fielded their strongest side as they were also using the tournament to prepare for the start of the IRB World Sevens Series circuit in December.

Zimbabwe recovered well after starting their campaign with a narrow 21-19 defeat to the Barbarians, a result team manager Bruce Hobson blamed on some poor officiating.

The Cheetahs however bounced back with a clinical 35-0 demolition of rivals Namibia, which they followed up with another emphatic 31-0 win over the Pumas to book their place in the semifinals.

In the semi-finals they met the EPA Academy and came out 26-14 victors to book a date with the Blittzbokke who had completed all their matches without tasting defeat.

In an interview with NewsDay Sport yesterday, Cheetahs’ team manager Bruce Hobson said he was pleased with the performance of his team.

“The guys played very well in this tournament and we were pleased with their performances. In the first match, had the refereeing not been pathetic, we could have easily won and we showed that in the other matches were we played some exciting brand of Sevens rugby, said Hobson.