London calling for improving Zimbabwe
Nyamutsamba’s team put icing on the cake and will be joined by Tonga, Russia and Georgia in qualifier for core-team status
The world series pre-qualifier was all about opportunities and Zimbabwe grabbed theirs with both hands, storming to a 22-19 victory over Tonga in the final.
With the promise of four places at May's London Sevens for those teams who made it to the semi-finals of the competition - Twickenham will act as the qualifier for the 2013-14 world series - Zimbabwe coach Gilbert Nyamutsamba could hardly contain his delight after returning from a champagne-soaked lap of honour having ticked all the boxes.
"We put in so much time working into this tournament that the boys have got what they deserve," he said. "We knew after losing to Russia [21-12] on Saturday we had to go back to our game plan, not get too excited and play to our strengths.
"I think the crowd can see how far rugby has come in Zimbabwe. Our objective was to qualify for London, this win is the icing on the cake."
The see-sawing final left little margin for error, with a late try giving the Tongans some hope, but their coach, Etuati Waqa, was left to rue some sloppy handling - something he said needed to be addressed fast if they were to match it now with the big boys of sevens.
"A few too many mistakes, but it's been a very good week for us," he said. "We wanted to match ourselves against the tier-two nations we don't know - like Zimbabwe and Russia - and we did pretty well.