ZIMBABWE Sevens rugby team head coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba says he was impressed with the level of competition Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Africa Sevens after his team finished second after going down 24-19 to hosts Kenya in Mombasa on Sunday.
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Nyamutsamba, who was using the regional tournament to prepare his charges for the London Sevens in a fortnight, urged CAR to organise competitions of that nature on a regular basis.
“We always have a good time when we come to Kenya, we enjoyed the tournament and we really hoped we could have won it,” Nyamutsamba told Standard Media after Sunday’s final.
“CAR needs to be holding more tournaments of this magnitude so that we can get more competition in African countries which would help us to grow.”
“The standards in the competition were very high and that is what is needed for the growth of the sport,” he added. “Zimbabwe has been practicing for a long time to reach the levels they are in and us reaching the final is actually a culmination of a lot of the work that has been put in by the squad.”
Regional powerhouses Kenya fielded two teams in the tournament that attracted 10 other African nations including World Cup-bound teams such as Zimbabwe and Tunisia.
Zimbabwe used the tourney to give some of their fringe players some game time ahead of the London Sevens (May 11-12) where they will play in the final qualification event for elevation to core status on next year’s HSBC Sevens World Series.
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Meanwhile, the Kenyan national sevens rugby team assistant coach Felix Ochieng praised his charges after Sunday’s win, saying it gave a lot of exposure to some upcoming players in his team.
“We are very excited about the win, given that the team was aiming for the number one spot. The boys knew that there was a lot of competition for places in the last two legs of the International Rugby Board Sevens circuit and the Sevens Rugby World Cup and they really stepped it up a notch,” he said.
“We have noted five players who we think can join the national squad and we will identify them as soon as I speak to the head coach Mike Friday.” Ochieng added “We saw our mistakes on our first day and we worked hard to try and correct them.”
“In fact, our main aim on the second day was to try and ensure we had as little mistakes as possible and then play it out from there. This has been a good tournament where we have seen teams like Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Morocco make good account of themselves. They played exceptionally well and we always knew it was not going to be easy.”
