adminminute of the match through a Daniel Hondo and Tangai Nemadire converted try, Zimbabwe could not hold on to the lead and cracked under pressure.
In the same half, Kenya responded with two tries through Horace Otieno (converted by Lavin Asego) and Willy Ndayara to go into the break with a five-point advantage and the Cheetahs never coped in the second half.
In the second half, all the Cheetahs could do was to ply second half pressure to the East Africans who added another 12 unreplied points to the board to make it for the Shield final against the United States.
But the writing was on the wall for the Zimbabweans whose trip and preparations in Glasgow were characterised by bad luck and misfortunes including injury and late arrivals.
First was Manasah Sita who was supposed to join the Cheetahs in Scotland straight from his base in Germany but he was unfortunate enough to suffer a shoulder injury that ruled him out of camp.
Cheetahs coach Gilbert “Gidza” Nyamutsamba and manager Bruce Hobson were left with little option and had to call in Zimbabwe Under-20 fullback James Forrester, who is based in Norwich, due to nothing more than convenience of location.
As if this was not enough, Gardner Nechironga — who was also supposed to have joined the Cheetahs straight from his base in Germany — arrived in Scotland a day before the games started, giving him minimal time to train with the rest of the squad.
All this spelt a disastrous time for the Cheetahs in Scotland.
And in their first game in Pool C, Zimbabwe suffered a 40-0 thumping against Fiji as they were no match for the core side who scored six tries — all but one converted with the first 21 points coming in the first half.
Then game against Argentina and Zimbabwe took the lead through a Gerald Sibanda, Gardner Nechironga converted try but Argentina placed two converted tries before half-time to go into the break with a 14-7 lead.
It was in the fourth minute of the second half that Zimbabwe felt relieved as they levelled the scores with Nemadire adding seven points of his own but that was to be short-lived following Argentina’s last-minute unconverted try.
And it was in their third and final game of the pool stages that Zimbabwe suffered a 24-14 defeat to Portugal after Njabulo Ndlovu had to spend some time in the sin-bin after he was yellow-carded in the last minute of the first half.
Hondo scored the first try for the Cheetahs four minutes before the end of the game with Nemadire adding the bonus points from his boot before Ndlovu bounced back to add another try again which was converted by Nemadire.
Meanwhile, former Zimbabwe-Under-20 team manager Jeannine Bryant was on Friday appointed as the ZRU marketing manager following a board meeting earlier in the day.
Bryant was involved with the Under-20 team for sometime before she was replaced last year and it was yesterday that the board resolved that she become their marketing representative.
Cheetahs Squad
Fortune Chipendu, Njabulo Ndlovu,Justin Coles, , Mike Morris, Tangai Nemadire, Graham Kaulback, Daniel Hondo, Gerald Sibanda, Gardner Nechironga, Wes Mbanje, Kilvan Magunje, James Forrester.
Online Reporter