52 replies to this topic

[etshwa]

Van-Bommel, on 19 November 2009 - 07:05 PM, said:

Why cant he just play for ZIM??
I mean i have no problems with what CLUB  he plays for but these problems would not exist if he played for ZIMBABWE or NO International rugby at all.
Then there would be no argument.

I sympathise with this opinion but think about it from his point of view. As a Bok, he can become a world champion, he can play at a packed Millennium or Twickenham stadium. Sure enough, if you're talented enough you can play in wonderful Super 14 or Heineken Cup matches and still maintain your Zim citizenship but that's not enough. Argentina's players are full time players overseas and they still get to play Test matches against New Zealand.Yet Zim has more potential. If we were good enough, we would be geographically a better fit for Tri Nations entry; we could easily have a Super Rugby franchise compared to Argentina. But we're not good enough, we don't qualify for world cups, we don't have a high profile competition to advertise our players too the world, Hartsfield is a ground not a world class stadium. So what can an ambitious player do?

[chikomana]

Kachere, on 26 November 2009 - 12:36 PM, said:

the beast is in... team anounced minutes ago....

Ironicaly, he is the 1st to be called followed by John Smit... I have always found it intriguing even before debacle

Vakomana tingatarisa vupenzi bwaminister but apa pakagara paresvwa. Beast aifanirwa kugadzirirwa mapepa kudhara as soon as he started playing for the Sharks in the Super 14. And as soon as De Villers started putting him in the squad....angadai akaitwa fast track. Kwete kuregera mwana angoti ne work permit chete nguva yose iyi vachimushandisa! Like I said players from Zim making it into the Springbok side hazvisiri zvitsva. The only difference is that by the time yavaizosvika pa stage ya Beast vainge vagadzirirwa mapepa chopaz.

Kachere unoda kundivudza iwe kuti had SARU whispered in the right ears pangadai pasina kumuka nyaya yose iyi! Asingazivi kuti Beast murudzii ndiani? Even anomurambira kumupa mapepa ndiani? The question yatinofanirwa kubvunzana pachedu is nemhaka yei asina mapepa acho?

[etshwa]

Mastermind, on 26 November 2009 - 05:27 PM, said:

If we were still talking about the Sables of old then yes maybe, but certainly not now...

The Cheaters are slowly impressing though, how far back are the Sables?

[zwe]

etshwa, on 26 November 2009 - 07:42 PM, said:

The Cheaters are slowly impressing though, how far back are the Sables?

LOL, dude it is Cheetahs, not cheaters.  

I think Zim rugby is definitely on the up. It is true that finance is still a huge problem, but things are slowly coming together. The Cheetahs only just lost 10 - 7 to the Boks at the Middleburg 7s earlier this month, and we beat Portugal and World Cup Finalists Argentina in Namibia.

Even the Sables are improving and we are building up a strong team. With guys like Vakai "Fish" Hove in the front row, Leitao in the loose and Mbanje, Nemadire, Hondo, Chipendu, Nechironga etc out and about. It could be a dangerous team. They won the CAR southern trophy recently, and given the game time can definitely beat Namibia. I reckon even Argentina could be within our reach over the next couple of years.

We definitely have the talent. We even have the ZRU management and coaching. What we are missing is financial resources, and I am confident that these will come as soon as the politicians sort themselves out.

[etshwa]

zwe, on 26 November 2009 - 09:05 PM, said:

LOL, dude it is Cheetahs, not cheaters.  

    

I'd love to say it was irony ....


But Arg is 8 in the world, you think we could get up there? Seriously?

[zwe]

Ja, I seriously think that if we called in all our players who are everywhere from New Zealand and Australia, to Italy, UK, Germany, and South Africa, we would definitely have a competitive team. There are several good players who have not signed for other countries who are way up there playing professionally for 1st or 2nd division teams, not to mention guys like Fortune Chipendu and Gardner Nechironga etc who are locally based.

Argentina are very good. But they have the same problem as we do in that all their best players go to play for Italy etc. And all their best players who do not play for other countries are playing for French, Irish, English and Italian clubs. Yet they are 8th in the world.

Getting Zimbabwean players into the Super XIV and Premiership etc is very difficult because of work permits and politics as usual. Even guys like Beast are now facing the scrutiny that equally talented guys from Zim have been having to cope with.

Sables have every chance of playing with the big boys, and it is only a question of time and money before we do.

[chikomana]

zwe, on 27 November 2009 - 06:53 PM, said:

Ja, I seriously think that if we called in all our players who are everywhere from New Zealand and Australia, to Italy, UK, Germany, and South Africa, we would definitely have a competitive team. There are several good players who have not signed for other countries who are way up there playing professionally for 1st or 2nd division teams, not to mention guys like Fortune Chipendu and Gardner Nechironga etc who are locally based.

Argentina are very good. But they have the same problem as we do in that all their best players go to play for Italy etc. And all their best players who do not play for other countries are playing for French, Irish, English and Italian clubs. Yet they are 8th in the world.

Getting Zimbabwean players into the Super XIV and Premiership etc is very difficult because of work permits and politics as usual. Even guys like Beast are now facing the scrutiny that equally talented guys from Zim have been having to cope with.

Sables have every chance of playing with the big boys, and it is only a question of time and money before we do.

We have some talent out there but its too isolated. In order to qualify and compete at the WC we need numbers especially in the scrum. Our problem has always been that we can not get the 100kg prop and that 2m lock which other nations have.

Namibia, Tunisia, Morocco and even Ivory Coast always have bigger packs than us and it will take us time to get past Namibia....

[zwe]

Nutrition is a problem with all our players. They need high protein diets which have been very difficult to obtain in recent times. But that is now changing. You only need to look at guys like Vakai Hove to see that we have some very physical players.

It only takes a squad of 22 Excellent players, given regular game time to become competitive. If the finance can be found to contract 22 of our very best players from Zim, we would have a competitive team.

[chikomana]

We do not have that in numbers....both players you sighted are the first in a long time and are already Springbok players. I remember when France B came to Zim around '93 and our locks Tendai and Brighton like young boys compared to them. At that point it doesn't matter how skilled you are if you are giving away half a meter in height at lineouts and over 300kg in the scrums. Ivory Coast were not so skilled (some didn't even seem like they knew the rules), but it was a sorry sight watching the likes of Dawson get slapped around like schoolboys.  

And now with France recruiting heavily from North and West Africa, its become more competitive. I agree with Zwe, our only hope is if we can sent as many of these young boys into European teams as possible. Its going to be difficult competing against an Ivory Coast team packed with France based players, while we only have 3-4 who have made it!

[Le Professeur]

Funny how after independence the South Africans have grown wings. Historically Zimbabweans have always been selected into to the Boks side even prior to 1980.

[arsenalmassive]

South Africans, idiots the whole lot of them . I can't stand them Boers but worse, it's the Black South Africans who have very limited brains, musata

[babachatunga]

problem with these Saskos' (black uneducated south africans) is that they are idiots i mean really is it our fault that they cant make the grade to play for the bokks its ridiculous ... i know or alot of whites playing and haved played for the bokks who are not South Africans but ay who cares they are white these saskos are still affraid of the white south africans ...so they decide to pick on our own Beast...!!!

[kenzo15]

Well the fact is young beast is a talented player and the saru have invested quite a lot in him . I think he should just be granted south african citizenship besides all you fellaz making noise on this forum paid bribes to get you papers here.