HARARE - Zimbabwe's Sevens rugby side left the country yesterday for Casablanca, Morocco, ahead of the Africa Zone qualifiers for the 2013 IRB Sevens Rugby World Cup.

After bowing out at the semifinal stage of the Middleburg Sevens in South Africa last week, the Cheetahs are perfectly poised to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Moscow, Russia. Zimbabwe are by some distance the strongest nation in the seven-team qualification tournament.

In Casablanca, the Cheetahs are grouped in Pool B together with Tunisia, Namibia and Ivory Coast while Zambia, Madagascar and Nigeria make up Pool A.

The tournament’s two semifinal winners qualify for the World Cup, joining automatic qualifiers South Africa and Kenya as Africa’s four representatives.

The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, to be held at Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital, will be the sixth edition of the event.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has stated that the Rugby World Cup Sevens will be scrapped if rugby sevens were to be included in the Olympic programme for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

As the International Olympic Committee have voted for the sport’s inclusion, this is likely to be the last edition of the tournament.

SQUAD

Jacques Leitao (captain), Fortune Chipendo, Njabulo Ndlovu, Justin Coles, Lucky Sithole, Kilvan Magunje, Daniel Hondo, Tangai Nemadire, Gardner Nechironga, Jonathan McWade, Wes Mbanje, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo. - Sports Writer