The Herald (Harare)
Paul Munyuki
10 July 2009
Harare — SABLES' assistant manager Noddy Kanyangarara is worried about the fitness levels of his players who are set to get into camp in Harare tomorrow.
The two-day camp, which will runs until Sunday, marks the start of the senior national rugby side's preparations for the Confederation of African Rugby tournament in Botswana later this month. The camp is expected to have a pool of about 42 players with most of the players coming from the local national league. Kanyangara said a lot of work needed to be done within the little time they have to prepare for the Botswana tournament and players' fitness will top the list.
"Most of the players are unfit. I am very disappointed at the state of these players and we have to put in a lot of effort," said Kanyangarara. The 42 players, who will go into camp, were named at the weekend after the league games at Old Georgians in the capital. The side also includes six foreign-based players Ketumetsi Tlou, Gardner Nechironga, Norman Mukondiwa, Tafadzwa Mhende, and Wesley Mbanje.
"At the weekend, we are going to hold a national camp that will run from Saturday to Sunday in Harare and we are most likely to have a Probables against Possibles game. "After this we will trim the side down to 28 and these will travel to Bulawayo where we will have a camp from the 14th to the 28th and we will drop four more players before we leave for Botswana that weekend."
Manager Losson Mtongwiza said they were going to play a Botswana second string side in their opening game at the tournament. This follows the decision by Swaziland to pull out of the event.
Zimbabwe will also play the winner of the match between Zambia and Reunion in the same pool. The tournament is for teams that were knocked out of the CAR Africa Cup and World Cup qualifiers. This is meant to ensure that the teams will not be inactive for close to a year. Meanwhile, preparations for the Under-18 Craven Week reached the home stretch yesterday with coach Godwin "Jaws" Murambiwa and his charges going into camp.
The Craven Week rugby festival is set to start on Monday in East London, South Africa, with Zimbabwe playing the South Africa Academy in their opening game on Tuesday afternoon.
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