Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
Zimbabwe…… . . . . . . . . . . (5) 24
Tunisia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(17) 27
ZIMBABWE’S Lady Sables coach Nsikelelo “Sykes” Sibanda may be forced into a re-think regarding his selection policy.
This comes after watching his charges, albeit from thousands of kilometres away, shoot themselves in the foot as they agonisingly went down 27-24 to Tunisia in their second match of the Rugby Africa Women’s Division One Tournament at the Stade Auguste Denise, in San Pedro, Cote d’Ivoire yesterday.
The Lady Sables were clearly overpowered, but not necessarily outplayed.
The problem arose as some of the young players appeared to be out-muscled when going into contact, the result of which cost them dearly with their ball handling inside their opponents 22, their biggest undoing.
Tunisia used their size advantage to full effect.
All their tries came from set pieces with the forwards touching down five times.
Zimbabwe, to the credit, clearly had the pace as Ruvimbo Mudyanadzo, Nokutenda Shoriwa and Cleopatra Kadimu giving the North Africans a torrid time with their darting runs.
All three touched down for tries with Rufaro Tagarira added a brace to the scoreline.
Zimbabwe once again started off shaky, only to mount a comeback late in the game after going to the breather trailing 17-5.
Skipper Skumbuzo Muchenje put up brave face after the match as she paid tribute to her charges fighting spirit.
“The girls played well and it was a good game,” said Muchenje, after the match.
“We brought the game to Tunisia and, even when we made the adjustment and brought in a few replacements after the break, we never let off the momentum.
“We kept fighting to the final whistle and, unfortunately, couldn’t cross the line,” she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by assistant coach Farai Makoni.
“It was a good game and the girls played really well,” he said.
“They put up a really good fight, kept pushing and it is quite sad that we didn’t get the result that we needed in the end.
“Now, we will just have to go back to the drawing board, review the match and try identify and fix the areas we were found lacking.
“Hopefully, we will do better in our next match against Uganda,” he said.
It was not all gloom and doom for the Zimbabwe as the climbed four rungs up the World Rugby women’s rankings to number 49 in the world.
According to latest ranking released on Monday, Uganda and Zimbabwe were the biggest movers of the teams currently taking part in the Rugby Africa Women’s Division One tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.
The East Africans and tournament favourites, Uganda, climbed five rungs to perch themselves at number 34.
Tunisia and hosts Cote d’Ivoire fell off six and three places to number 37 and 53 respectively.
Zimbabwe wrap up their participation at the tournament when they play the decider against Uganda on Saturday.
