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Mutamangira retained as Sables skipper

Sport
VETERAN Harare Sports Club loosehead prop Denford Mutamangira has been retained as captain of Zimbabwe senior rugby team for their crucial Rugby Africa Gold Cup opening match against Senegal in Dakar on Saturday.

VETERAN Harare Sports Club loosehead prop Denford Mutamangira has been retained as captain of Zimbabwe senior rugby team for their crucial Rugby Africa Gold Cup opening match against Senegal in Dakar on Saturday.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

The 32-year-old steely front rower, who has led the Sables since June 2015 will continue in the role for the third successive season and will be deputised by Old Hararians flyhalf Tichafara Makwanya.

“We have opted for continuity by retaining Denford Mutamangira and Tichafara Makwanya as the captain and vice-captain respectively,” Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge said.

The duo will lead the Sables in this year’s Gold Cup campaign, where they desperately need to avoid relegation to the second-tier Silver Cup to keep their hopes of qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup alive.

Next year’s Rugby Africa Gold Cup tournament will act as qualifiers for the 2019 Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan.

Coach Mandenge said despite the unavailability of most foreign-based players and the limited time his charges have had as a group to prepare because of funding issues, he was optimistic of his team’s chances after being impressed by their performance against Zambia in a preparatory match recently.

“I was happy with the way the guys played during the Zambia game even though people can say it was against weak opposition,” Mandenge told NewsDay Sport ahead of his team’s departure for Dakar tonight.

“The structure was there, unfortunately after that game we couldn’t train because of the issue of the venue but ever since we regrouped on Sunday everything has been looking good.

“Obviously time has not been on our side and we didn’t manage to bring in most of the players we wanted but the guys that are here have been looking sharp and we’ve pretty much covered most of the stuff we wanted,” Mandenge said.

The Sables held two training sessions at Price Edward School yesterday with 29 of the 30 players called up last week in attendance while Germany-based lock Brian Nyaude was expected to arrive last night.

Mandenge said although he was expecting a physical encounter against the West African side, it was important for his charges to play to their own strengths. “We definitely want to win to kick start our campaign on a positive note. We know they’re a big side and will be very physical but we just need to play smart rugby and try as much as we can to outthink the opposition. It’s also a good thing that we don’t know much about their side because sometime we worst a lot of time focusing on the opposition and not our own game.

After this weekend’s tricky encounter in Dakar, the Sables travel to Windhoek to face Namibia on July 15 before returning home to host Kenya the following weekend and Tunisia on July 29.

Mandenge’s men will round up their campaign with an away clash against Uganda on August 5.

Sables squad for Senegal:

Forwards: Denford Mutamangira, Lawrence Cleminson, Irvine Nduwa, Brian Makamure, Tolerance Zishe, Graham Cochran, Brian Nyaude, Witness Mandizha, Fortune Chipendo, Takudzwa Mandiwanza, Connor Pritchard, Biselele Tshamala, Osborne Muhambi

Backs: Hilton Mudariki, Makwanya, Lenience Tambwera, Daniel Capsopoulos, Boyd Rouse, Ngoni Chibuwe, Stephan Hunduza, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Tadius Hwata, Tarisai Mugariri

Head coach: Cyprian Mandenge

Team manager: Sam Samu

Physiotherapist: Abigail Mnikwa