Zimbabwe coach Peter de Villiers says his side are "alive and well" in their bid to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, despite being held to a home draw by Morocco in their Gold Cup opener at the weekend.
Zimbabwe missed a late penalty and had to settle for a 23-23 draw in what was a disappointing first outing with the team for the former Springboks coach.
But De Villiers refused to be downbeat and says there were plenty of positives to take into their next qualifier, which is away in Kenya on June 30.
"We are all alive and when you're alive there's hope, so we've got hope that we will qualify," De Villiers told reporters. "There are a lot of positives to take from this match and we are not down and out, but we are not very happy for not taking our chances.
"You can describe it as a game of missed opportunities; we made it too easy for them in the game and, in the end, we paid the price. I don't care what level you are playing in ... if you don't take your chances, your opponents will punish you."
De Villiers says that despite the set-back, his side had shown character that should hold them in good stead.
"We gave them two soft tries and then we had to play catch-up after that; the character of the team came out when we had to play catch up and we just managed to draw it at the end and we missed a chance to win it."
Only the top team in the six-team round-robin competition automatically qualifies for the World Cup, with the second-placed team heading for inter-continental play-offs.