WORLD CUP-BOUND Zimbabwe Sevens rugby team held their second training camp since the start of the year at the weekend, as they brace themselves for next month’s pool allocation draw which will take place at Petroff Palace in Moscow on February 28.
REPORT BY DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER
Zimbabwe Sevens Rugby manager Bruce Hobson said the technical team headed by Gilbert Nyamutsamba was impressed with the fitness levels of players, 11 of whom were given contracts last month.
“As you are aware, we now have 11 players who are now contracted to Zimbabwe Sevens. We will be holding regular training camps until the World Cup and this weekend we held our second training camp of the year at Old Georgians.
“All the contracted players were available in addition to others who are not yet contracted. We were impressed as the fitness tests showed that there was a remarkable improvement in the levels of players from our first camp early this month,” said Hobson.
The Cheetahs, as the team is affectionately known, will know their opponents at the upcoming Sevens Rugby World Cup in Russia after next month’s pool allocation draw.
The draw for both the men’s and women’s tournaments to be played in the Russian capital from June 28-30 will be conducted using the seedings from the past two full HSBC Sevens World Series seasons.
Hobson said they were expecting a tough draw and would ensure that the team gets the best preparation in the build-up to the tournament.
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“Obviously this is a World Cup and there is no way you can avoid the big teams and our job is to prepare in the best way we can to ensure that we are ready.
“I understand that they will be using the rankings from the past two seasons of the World Series which puts us in the same band as Canada, Spain, Portugal and Russia. These are all teams we know well and have played against in the past.
“We will need to do well against them at the World Cup to prepare ourselves for the qualifiers to become a core team on the World Series, which is our main priority,” said Hobson.
According to a statement by the IRB, the World Cup pool allocation draw for the men’s competition will see teams being divided into six pools of four, where they will play each other in a round-robin format over the first two days before progressing to the knock-out phase on the final day.
According to the seedings released by the IRB this weekend, the Cheetahs are currently ranked 18th out of the 24 participating teams.
The Cheetahs are not expected to feature on the Sevens World Series until after the draw and they are expected to remain in the same position and in the same band with other five countries namely Canada (13), Portugal (14), Spain (15), Russia (16) and Tonga who are currently ranked 17th.
The four bands of six for the men are as follows: Band 1: New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, Samoa, England, Australia Band 2: Wales, Argentina, France, Kenya, Scotland, US Band 3: Canada, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Tonga, Zimbabwe Band 4: Japan, Hong Kong, Georgia, Tunisia, Philippines, South American qualifier
