The Zimbabwe Sevens Rugby team were handed a tough draw for the penultimate round of the HSBC Sevens World Series, the Emirates Airline Glasgow Sevens, in Scotland from May 5-6.
The Glasgow Sevens will take place at the Scotstoun Stadium and will be followed by the Marriott London Sevens (May 12-13) a week later in England.
The Cheetahs were drawn in Pool C and will play HSBC World Sevens Series core teams Fiji, Argentina and Portugal, who will be joining the elite group next season.
The draw for the Glasgow Sevens was conducted just before the final of the Tokyo Sevens, the seventh round of the HSBC World Series which was won by Australia. This will be the Cheetahs’ first appearance on the HSBC World Sevens Series since missing out on a place to become a core team on the circuit two weeks ago in Hong Kong.
Heavyweights Fiji, who have won two of the Sevens legs on the World Series this season — including the Hong Kong Sevens two weeks ago — will be favourites to win the group.
This weekend Fiji won the plate final of the Tokyo Sevens following a 14-10 win over South Africa to remain second in the World Sevens Series standings on 122, six points behind leaders New Zealand.
The Pumas of Argentina are also a competitive team on the World Series, while Portugal beat the Cheetahs 21-17 in the quarter-finals of the core-status qualifying tournament in Hong Kong.
While in Scotland, the Cheetahs are likely to be reunited with the Zimbabwe Sevens director of coaching and former coach, Liam Middleton, who is now the coach at Bristol RFC in England.
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Meanwhile, hosts Scotland were handed a tough draw against home nation rivals Wales, South Africa and Russia in Pool D. Australia head Pool A in Glasgow and face opening matches against England, US and Kenya. Samoa will play New Zealand, France and Spain in Pool B.
Draw Pool A: England, Australia, US, Kenya Pool B: Samoa, New Zealand, France, Spain Pool C: Argentina, Fiji, Portugal, Zimbabwe Pool D: Wales, South Africa, Scotland, Russia
