THE Zimbabwe Sevens rugby team, nicknamed the Cheetahs, kicked off the two-day tournament in the resort town of Victoria Falls yesterday with a flourish, picking up three wins and a defeat on day one.
BY SPORTS REPORTER
The Cheetahs opened their account with an empathic 26-0 win over Zambia. Pint-sized utility back Stephen Hunduza starred in that game scoring two tries. Zimbabwe were ruthless in their second match as they massacred a hapless Lesotho 51-0 in a one-sided affair. Lesotho were completely outgunned as they failed to even exit their own territory.
Cheetahs stretched their unbeaten run to three matches by beating highly rated South African outfit False Bay 14-0, the first try coming from Biselele Tshamala and the second one came from Germany-based speedster Tafadzwa “Rubber” Chitokwindo who had just come off the plane. Chitokwindo showed no signs of jet lag as he was electrifying in the first match he featured after missing the first two games.
However, Zimbabwe lost 14-12 to the Kenya Shuja in the final game of the day.
Zimbabwe coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba was upbeat going into the final day of the tournament.
“I’m happy that my boys have been able to start on a high and I’m also impressed that Kenya and Uganda brought in strong sides .They are playing well, which will make an interesting day two. We will see how it goes,” he said.
