14 year drought comes to an end as OMs finally get one over Warriors

AFTER over a decade of near misses, close calls and massive defeats, Old Miltonians (OMs) finally had a huge sigh of relief this past Saturday as they managed to get one over old foes, Matabeleland Warriors at Hartsfield Rugby Grounds.

It was OMs’ first victory over Warriors in 14 years and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the former extended their unbeaten run in the 2024 Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB) Archer Clothing Rugby League to four matches on the trot. They are now the only unbeaten side in the league.

OMs managed to hold their nerves to register a hard fought 16-12 win over the defending champions, who were on the back foot from the first whistle. The eventual winners, OMs had a dream start to the match, going in front after 10 minutes of play through a Bulisani Ncube try.

The Victor Chiwara mentored side would find themselves leading 10-0 halfway through the first half, only to give up that lead by the end of the first stanza. Ncube scored their only try of the match, which came in the first half. OMs also managed to score a penalty in the first half. However, Warriors proved not to be pushovers, scoring two tries in the first half, all coming through Nqobani Litini deep into the first half.

Despite being on the backfoot early on, the defending champions managed to get back into the game and go to the break leading 12-10 as OMs lost structure and discipline at the back end of the first stanza.

Trailing 12-10 for the better part of the second half, two late penalties for OMs made sure that they collect maximum points and extend their gap at the top. OMs’ Paul Chade had one conversion and two penalties scored while Mbekezeli Siziba scored the other penalty for the log leaders. At the full time whistle, Chiwara couldn’t believe what happened as his inexperienced side made history. None of his players had played a game of that magnitude.

“It’s indescribable, it’s been a long time coming, we have always been on the receiving end on the bulk of those 14 years and I can’t tell you how proud I am of these boys. Fifteen of them had never played in this fixture before this game, just last year, 10 of them were playing high school rugby and that’s how proud I am of them and it’s only the beginning,” said Chiwara.

Having controlled the game for the better part, before Warriors came back to claim the lead late into the first half, Chiwara said he was impressed with how his boys heed to the message that he gave them. He added that they need to maintain their calmness as there is still work that needs to be done.

“I told them to have calm heads and just trust the work we have been doing since February. Some of them were playing Under-20 in January, so it was simple, trust the work and just stick to the plan. Yes, it was sketchy here and there but in the end the boys stuck to the plan and we got the win. “Although we are on cloud nine at the moment, we have to keep calm. Like I said, this is a very young team and the bulk of our squad was playing high school rugby last year, so we need to stick to the process,” said Chiwara.

Despite being a hard pill to swallow, Warriors gaffer Aubrey Dube conceded defeat and congratulated his opponents on a deserved victory. He said OMs were the better team on the day and deserved to walk away with the victory.

“Credit to OMs, they played well, they played in the right areas and we played in the wrong areas, but as I had said, the team that makes the least mistakes is the team that’s going to come away with the result and today they were the better team, so it’s time for us to get back to the drawing board,” said Dube.