Chronicle Editor
BRAZIL and Zimbabwe met for the first time in the opening rugby game of the Stellenbosch Challenge in South Africa yesterday and the Sables emerged 24-22 winners.
Brazil had a poor start to the match and failed to score in the opening half, while Zimbabwe put 17 points on the board.
This difference made it highly demanding for Brazil to respond in the second-half.
Despite the one-way traffic in the first-half, it was actually slow-going early on and it took 16 minutes for the first points of the match to be scored.
Winger Mudzenkenyedzi went into the try zone for the opening score. The right winger ran down the blindside from a scrum, splitting the defence. White-Sharpley added the conversion for the Sables.
White-Sharpley made it 10-0 after 21 minutes when the fly half landed a penalty from half-way.
It was part two of a seven-minute Zimbabwean onslaught. Part three saw the Sables scoring their second try. The try was a lineout-maul only for Tapiwa Tsomondo to detach and power forward. White-Sharpley added the extras to give the Sables a 17-0 lead.
Down by a large margin at half-time, Brazil went to their bench early. The South Americans did succeed in coming away with the opening points of the second-half. Replacement back Pedro Henrique powered his way over and into the try zone. His 49th minute try was converted by Lucas Spago to put Brazil back in the contest.
A 65th minute penalty made it a one-score match. Lucas Tránquez’s mid-range strike assured that the result was up for grabs. However, the Sables hit back immediately. A poor chase saw Zimbabwe countering and running 70 metres to score. Replacement T Chiwambusta touched down after great work from his winger and scrum-half.
The final minutes saw Brazil on top. Os Tupis crossed for two tries. First, replacement hooker Leonardo Silva barged over following an attacking maul.
The 76th minute score was unconverted and as such, Zimbabwe retained a nine-point lead. Second, a series of phases culminated in Silva scoring his second. Tranquez converted to end the match at 24-22. — Americas Rugby News
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