ZIMBABWE national Sevens rugby coach, Gilbert Nyamutsamba said the team was geared for the inaugural Kwesé Sports Victoria Falls Sevens tournament, which will be played in the resort town from March 24 to 29 .
BY FREEMAN MAKOPA
Nine countries are expected to participate at the tournament and these are Uganda, Zambia, Swaziland, Morocco and Senegal, Kenya and Zimbabwe, while France and Hong Kong have been invited. “We are ready for the tournament given the fact that we have been participating in different tournaments. The target is to win the tournament,’’ he said.
Nyamutsamba believes the players will give it their best shot, as they will battle for a place in the final squad to travel for the Hong Kong Sevens in early April. The team will then travel to San Francisco for the World Cup in July.
“We are going to the Victoria Falls tournament with 24 players, which means from those we will select the best 12 that will travel to Hong Kong to represent the country. I am expecting tight competition from players, as it will act as a selection tourney,” he said.
France, who qualified for the Rugby World Cup Sevens by virtue of being a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, have expressed interest in making the trip to the resort town as the tournament will not clash with their world series schedule.
Hong Kong on the other hand, last toured Zimbabwe in 2013 and 2014 and are eager to use the tournament to prepare for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series qualifying tournament, which they will host two weeks later.
Zimbabwe is one of the 24 teams that will compete at this year’s Rugby Sevens World Cup to be held in San Francisco, USA from July 20 to 22.
