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Grace Chingoma
Senior Sports Reporter
Uruguay…………….. (17) 51
Zimbabwe…………. (14) 14
THE Junior Sables coach Shaun De Souza says his team is now beginning to feel the pressure after losing their second game on the trot at the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy following a 51-14 loss to Uruguay at Nyayo Stadium yesterday in Kenya.
Going into the match yesterday, the Junior Sables were aiming for a first victory and made six changes to the team, having lost the opener against Scotland 64-33 last weekend..
And it appeared that everything was on course when the Zimbabwe Under-20 raced to a 0-14 lead courtesy of two tries from Shingi Manyarara and Edward Sigauke.
But once Uruguay converted their first try through Jeronimo Noseda in the 25th minute, there was no looking back from the South American team. Uruguay also won their first match against the USA, leaving them in a good position ahead of the top-of-the-pool clash against Scotland next week.
The Zimbabwean coach said the result was unfortunate.
“We had the plan for this game but we didn’t follow through and we put pressure on ourselves. We just didn’t have the legs to take us through but yeah it is one of those.
“We take the heat and then we move on to the next game against the USA. Hopefully, we can try and do our best in that and see where it puts us in the play-off.
“It is what it is, that’s the destiny of the work we have put in, we just need to learn how to finish it off and maybe man up in the decisions that we make. It is what it is. I will take the knock,” said De Souza
However, the Zimbabwean gaffer says they will keep going when they meet the United States of America on Tuesday.
The North American lost 40-13 to Scotland who are determined to get their promotion into the Championship back.
Zimbabwe got their first try in the fourth minute in a move which involved Alex Nyamunda, and Manyarara came charging under the posts to send Zimbabwean supporters into cheers.
In the 12th minute, the Junior Sables defended resolutely to thwart the Terrios leading to a turnover. The Zimbabweans increased their lead when Sigauke made a good finish in the 24th minute.
But immediately after the conversion, Junior Sables made an error at the restart leading Jeronimo Noseda to score the first try for Uruguay. Uruguay’s Juan Batista scored a penalty in the 34th minute and a minute later Dante Sonto added another try as Zimbabwe’s Leo Mutenda received a yellow card.
With Uruguay dominating, the Zimbabwean side crumbled, made a lot of mistakes and was nowhere near the sight of that team that gave a solid second-half performance against Scotland.
The Zimbabwean coach had hoped to build on that opening match performance. He was even optimistic that they would secure a podium finish and fight for third/fourth place. But yesterday’s result left the Zimbabweans staring at the reality of finishing lowly again at the World Cup second-tier tournament.
P W D L F A Pts
Scotland 2 2 0 0 104 46 10
Uruguay 2 2 0 0 84 45 9
USA 2 0 0 2 44 73 1
Zimbabwe 2 0 0 2 47 115 1
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