By Trevor Makonyonga
During this past week the Zimbabwe sevens team, the Cheetahs, participated in the repechage tournament to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in France with an arguably young and inexperienced team. Going into battle at the Monaco sevens, the Cheetahs were faced with a seemingly difficult schedule and the truth is most fans were indifferent about how the outcome at the tournament will be.
Zimbabwe started the tournament by beating Mexico 21-0 before losing 31-10 to Ireland and 33-7 to Samoa. The other Cheetahs victory came against Tonga where the team swept the Pacific Islanders away 26-17.
Subsequently, Zimbabwe finished third in the group and it was good to record victories when most people were writing the team off.
Prior to the tournament there were report that there were issues within the camp and it was amazing to see the boys perform well on the field.
There were changes in the team which saw captain Boyd Rouse, Kudzai Mashawi, Godknows Mavara, Brandon Boshi, Nelson Madida, Shingirai Katsvere and Martin Mangongo being the only players with previous international caps.
The new players were Sam Phiri, Munopa and Munesu Muneta, Ryan Musumhi and Godfrey Magaramombe and they got their international debuts in Monaco.
Missing out were the likes of Biselele Tshamala, Connor Pritchard, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Kudakwashe Chiwanza, Ngoni Chibuwe, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Njabulo Ndlovu, Hilton Mudariki, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Stephan Hunduza, Riaan O’Neill and Tarisai Mugariri.
The changes that came about in the team seemed drastic but the results were tremendous. Such changes need stakeholders and fans to trust so as to ensure that Zimbabwe becomes a formidable force.
It has to be implored that the courage of introducing so many new players and having them perform so well is encouraging given the amount of talent in the country.
If the current crop of under 20s are to be developed and the sport is professional Zimbabwe could be a serious force both in sevens and fifteens.
Good times could certainly be ahead of us and the right strings need to be pulled too. The friendlies against Zambia and Portugal could be proof that the nation is on the right path.
What has to be done is minimising the politics and ensuring that there is unity going forward. It could be possible to qualify for the World Cup and the next Olympics.
