A 22-12 defeat to Madagascar saw Zimbabwe women’s Sevens rugby finish as the 14^th placed side in the 16-team Olympic qualifier play-offs in Ireland on yesterday evening.

Zimbabwe finished 14th at the women’s Sevens rugby Olympic qualifier play-off, two places better than bottom placed side after losing five of their six games, scoring just 46 points to 182 by all their opponents combined.

Tunisia and Kazakhstan – sides we are largely perceived to be better than – made it to the quarter finals while Zimbabwe only came out of the competition an embarrassed lot.

Zimbabwe’s display of technical awareness was so bad a commentator during Zimbabwe’s 59-0 loss to Russia just in the second game said: "Zimbabwe's performance does nothing to help the game of women's rugby. . . it’s like they don’t want to be in the game".

After coming out of Group A with three straight defeats to Samoa (57-5), Russia (59-0) and Madagascar (19-17) on Saturday, Zimbabwe on Sunday were relegated to the second tier Trophy Challenge.

They again lost 22-0 to Hong Kong and were further relegated to the positional play offs where a 12-5 win over Trinidad and Tobago ensured they would not finish as the bottom placed side.

However, they were to once again take no Madagascar in the 13^th/14^th place play-off where they came short with a 22-12 loss to end as the third lowest side in the competition.

Results: Lost 12-22 v Madagascar; Won 12-5 v Trinidad and Tobago; Lost 20-0 v Hong Kong; Lost 19-17 v Madagascar; Lost 59-0 v Russia, Lost 57-5 v Samoa

P             W           D             L              F              A

Zimbabwe         6           1         0          5          46          182

Squad: Charity Mucucuti (captain), Margaret Magwaro, Caroline Malenga, Peace Sithole, Precious Marange, Simbisai Kadye, Ruvimbo Musere, Constance Ngwende, Lindiwe Munerenyu, Rumbidzai Chabveka, Rumbidzai Chigumbu, Gertrude Masora.

Coach: Abigail Kawonza

Manager: Susan Kamukai