Zambia: 15s Rugby Coach Forsees Good Run

16 June 2011

ZAMBIA 15s rugby team coach Noble Chisenga is confident of a good run during the 2011 Confederations of African Rugby (CAR) Africa Cup qualifiers, saying he has a good crop of players.

And the coaching bench has summoned Sizwa Mvula and Bruce Musonda from Roan rugby club to beef up the squad while the three players called to replace the injured trio of Musonda Kaminsa, Terry Kayumba and Jonathan Mambilima have reported for camp.

The three are MacManus Musonda of Lusaka, Lazours Chiti and Chilanzi Sikazwe, both from Diggers .

Chisenga said in Lusaka yesterday that he was happy with the commitment and dedication the 33 players summoned to camp were showing during training ahead of departure for Cameroun on Saturday where the qualifier takes place from June 20 to 25.

Zambia kicks off her campaign with a seemingly tough encounter against the hosts with the winner playing either Botswana or Senegal for a place in the final and subsequent qualification to the next stage.

Chisenga said the test match against the Lusaka select that was played in the afternoon yesterday would give the coaching bench chance to assess the team and also probably come up with a first team.

He said Zambia currently has the best quality of players that should put up a good show during the qualifiers and hopefully end the jinx that has seen the country failing to qualify for the Africa Cup.

“I am confident of a good outing because we have a very good quality of players in camp who can deliver the desired results for the team and it is also interesting to see the commitment from the players, you can see the hunger in them to win the match,” Chisenga said.

Chisenga also expressed happiness with the performance of the new calls up and that the minor hiccup the team suffered following the withdrawals have been dealt with.

He said the final list of players travelling would be announced tomorrow, a day before departure though saying it would be difficult as most players in camp were good.

AllAfrica – All the Time