Dairibord Rugby festival signs out in style

Jeffrey Murimbechi

Prince Edward Tiger………(3) 22

Churchill Bulldogs ………(14) 17

NOT with a whimper, but with a bang!

That was the biggest takeaway from the 2019 edition of the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival, as the ever entertaining derby pitting Prince Edward and Churchill Boys High lived up to expectation.

Prince Edward Tigers will start the schools season with an impetus impression after coming from behind to annihilate lifetime rivals Churchill Bulldogs 22-17 in yesterday’s curtain closer.

The derby lived to the billing drawing crowds in the thousands.

And there was a lot of great rugby on display as the major draw card was the battle between these two foes.

Nowhere else in Zimbabwe does such a massive crowd come to watch any match of rugby and fans got their penny’s worth.

Bulldogs fluffed a first time lead which came from two converted tries – Churchill using their much superior and experienced backline struck first blood and looked set to win.

Prince Edward head coach Shaun de Souza says he kept a cool head over his boys’ shoulders and the perseverance paid off. “In the first half we knew Churchill were going to be very physical and emotional; so I tried to keep my boys composed.

“We tried to contain them and we did that in the first half.

“Our plan was to keep going for the points, second half was bit different, I had a strong bench, I used it and it paid dividends,” said de Souza

The second half was a totally different affair as the Tigers stopped playing flatter on the defense line and used depth to create space and confuse the Bulldogs.

Bulldogs did themselves a major de-service allowing two soft tries.

To add to the series of poor field decisions, Bulldogs opted for a four ball line-out in their five-yard line and the Tigers were gifted with another try.

In the desperate hope of chasing a win Bulldogs took a penalty within the Tigers 22-yard line bringing the score to 22-17.