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Peter de Villiers

Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
SABLES coach Peter de Villiers believes Zimbabwe’s rugby is poised for better days owing to abundance of talent in the country.

Speaking after watching the country’s Sevens national team, The Cheetahs, Goshawks and Zambezi Steelers compete at the Kwese Sports tournament which took place in Victoria Falls over the weekend, de Villiers said Zimbabwe rugby has a lot of talent that need to be nurtured.

De Villiers, formerly with Springboks, one of the best rugby teams in the world from 2008 to 2011, was named as the new Sables boss by Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) last month.

He was at the Kwese Sports tournament to provide mutual support to his sevens counterpart Gilbert Nyamutsamba whose charges finished second after Kenya Shujas.

“I have settled well here and people are accommodative. I love this place and I understand the culture. In terms of rugby, I am happy with the quality of sport displayed here. All these players are going to Hong Kong and when they come back they will be joining the Sables as we work on our preparations for the World Cup,” said De Villiers.

The Rugby World Cup will be held next year in Japan while the SBC World Rugby Sevens will be staged in Hong Kong from April 6–8.

De Villiers, however, said Zimbabwe’s talent cannot be compared to that of South Africa.

“We can’t compare the two countries because of population but we have to compare what we have here,” he said.

Nyamutsamba said he will be naming his 18- member squad to do duty in Hong Kong comprising all the 12 players who took part at the weekend tournament.

“We had 36 players and we are going to pick 18 from there and all the 12 who played here will make it,” he said.

The coach tried new names like Connor Pritchard. The whole team had Biselele Tshamala, Boyd Rouse, Ziyanda Khuphe, Ngoni Chibuwe, Shayne Makombe, Tafadzva Chitokwindo, Njabulo Ndlovu, skipper Hilton Mudariki, Lenience Tambwera, Stephen Hunduza and Riaan O’Niel.

ZRU president Aaron Jani said Zimbabwe has a large pool of players.

@ncubeleon