The victorious senior national rugby team – the Sables- arrived in the country last night following their historic CAR Africa Cup triumph in Tunisia which saw them scale new heights on the IRB World rankings.
Led by coach Brendan Dawson, the players were all smiles as they were welcomed by equally excited fans, friends and relatives at Harare International Airport.
“It was a special feeling to be finally crowned African champions after so many years of trying.
The boys have to be commended, they put their bodies on the line, listened to instructions and they represented the country with distinction,” said an elated Dawson.
Dawson was full of praise for the young players who graduated from the Under-20 side.
“The few youngsters that came in Lenience Tambwera, Tatenda Karuru and Brian Makamure did very well and it’s a sign that the future is very bright,” he said.
Dawson, who is the most capped Sables player of all time, said it was now crucial for the corporate world to come on board and support the team as they aim to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
“Obviously it’s a huge boost for the World Cup qualifiers in 2014, but we need money to professionalise our game and for that to happen, we need the corporate world to step in and help us.”
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Dawson’s comments were capped by Sables captain Costa Dinha who also edged sponsors to come on board and ensure that they have better preparations ahead of big tournaments.
“There is still a lot of hard work for us but winning the Africa Cup was certainly a big boost. We hope we will have more support so that we improve our preparations because our preparations for this tournament were not up to scratch because of financial constraints,” said Dinha.
