The Zimbabwe Sevens rugby team’s technical department will use this weekend’s second leg of the Spar Summer Sevens Series at Old Hararians Sports Club to select players for the Goshawks squad for the Safaricom Sevens tournament starting November 4-6 in Kenya.
The Safaricom Sevens is one of the biggest Sevens rugby tournaments on the continent, which has seen it being dubbed Africa’s premier rugby Sevens tournament as it draws crowds of over 20 000 every year.
Initially, the Zimbabwe Sevens national team, the Cheetahs, were the only team expected to feature before the developmental side, the Goshawks, received their invitation early this week.
Cheetahs team manager Bruce Hobson, who is also one of the organisers of the Spar Summer Sevens Series, confirmed this in an interview with NewsDay Sport yesterday.
“We received an invitation for our developmental Sevens rugby team, the Goshawks, to take part at the Safaricom Sevens in Kenya next weekend.
“This now means we will be having two teams taking part including the Cheetahs whose team is already included after they took part at the Middleburg Sevens in South Africa recently.
“The Goshawks haven’t been together since the Castle Sevens which opens up opportunities for other deserving players, which is why we will be using the second part of the Spar Summer Sevens Series at Old Hararians as a selection platform,” said Hobson.
The Goshawks team acts as a feeder team to the senior Sevens team, the Cheetahs and comprises young and up- and coming Sevens rugby players. Most of the players in the current Cheetahs squad have passed through the Goshawks team before breaking into Cheetahs squad.
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Old Georgians, who provide the bulk of players in the Cheetahs team, won the first leg of the Spar Summer Sevens Series last weekend after beating Gweru in the final.
The other teams who are expected to battle it out this weekend include Bulawayo-based Bulldogs, Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians, Busters, Panthers, Shabanie, Mabvuku, Mutare, Mbare and Police Defenders.
