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Grace Chingoma-Senior Sports Reporter
THE Junior Sables have everything to play for when they face the United States of America in their last pool match at the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy at Nyayo stadium in Kenya this morning.
Zimbabwe are out of contention for a podium finish after losing to Scotland and Uruguay last week.
But the Zimbabwean Under-20 have a chance to finish fifth if they win today and also succeed in their play-off match against losers from pool B.
Zimbabwe have featured in the World Rugby Trophy competition four times and on all occasions, they finished seventh or in eighth place.
So bettering the previous performances will still be a plus for the Barthes Trophy holders.
The Junior Sables are in the same group as the European side which was relegated from the Championship in 2019 and is on top with 10 points followed by Uruguay with nine points. Zimbabwe and the United States of America have a point each.
The Barthes Trophy holders will seek to redeem themselves and fight to avoid relegation when they clash with teams that will finish lowly in pool B.
The winner between Zimbabwe and the United States will play in the fifth- and sixth-place play-off while the loser of the encounter ends this year’s Junior World Trophy campaign with a seventh and eighth play-off fixture.
Zimbabwe coach Shaun De Souza has made changes giving a chance to some of the players that did not feature in the opening matches.
Shingirayi Manyarara will be the stand-in captain for today’s tie. Skipper Panashe Zuze was injured during the Scotland match.
“Heading into the US game, I have nothing to lose and I think I am going to give some of the other kids a run,” said De Souza
He has a given run to players such as Tadiwa Chinwada, Brendan Jameson, Takudzwa Zvomuya and Tanaka Chinyanga starting places.
He has relegated players such as Alex Nyamuda Takana Gondo-Mukandapi, Gealan Jaricha and Shadreck Mandaza to the bomb squad.
“The senior guys or regular starters have become too comfortable and have started to take things for granted. I want to give the younger, hungrier guys a run and try to get a better performance against the US.
De Souza says the players were disappointed with how the tournament turned out.
“Two defeats in two matches was definitely not the plan. We are all obviously disappointed as this is our third defeat in like 14 matches.
“We are a team that is not used to losing . . . . It is still surreal that we didn’t perform to our usual standards, and we are still trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
“We had all this planned out perfectly but the execution was lacking,” he said.
The Zimbabwean coach added that they will not underrate the 2008 Junior Trophy champions, who are also win-less after two games.
“I think they are a strong outfit; they have the skill set to move the ball and run into space. They have some speed on the outside and they also have a bit of set piece in them.
“They are a team not to be taken lightly as they had Scotland on the ropes for a bit during their match, and they did well to contain them for as long as they did.
“It will definitely not be an easy game and we will have to work hard to get the win,” he said.
Starting team: Ngobile Manyara, Takudzwa Zvomuya, Tadiwa Chinwada, Tamuka Kambani, Leo Mutendi, Tanaka Ndoro, Hagler Mucheni, Shingi Manyarara, Dion Khumalo, Edward Sigauke, Brendan Jameson, Simba Kanyangarara, Benoni Nhekairo, Tawanda Matipano, Tanaka Chinyanga, Edward Sigauke.
Online Reporter