malvernmugadzikwa
Tinashe Kusema
Zimbabwe Under-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 33
Scotland Under-20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (31) 64
EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong went wrong!
That, in a nutshell, was the sorry case of the Zimbabwe Junior Sables as they went down to a dominant Scotland Under-20 side in the opening encounter of the World Junior Trophy at the Nyayo National Stadium in Kenya yesterday.
While they did show some fight during a spirited second-half display, it was a classic case of too little, too late as the damage had already been done.
They lost their skipper Panashe Zuze during the first 10 minutes, while a lack of discipline saw three Junior Sables players get yellow cards for reckless tackles and continued offences.
The three — hooker Bryan Chiang, eighth man Shingi Manyarara and winger Edward Sigauke — were each sent to the sin bin, giving their opponents numerical advantage, and saw Zimbabwe play with 13 men at one point during the second half.
The bundle of nerves and unforced errors did not help matters.
Still, credit to the Scottish team as they put up a near-perfect game and outclassed the Zimbabweans in every facet of the game.
The Europeans started in a flurry as a first-half hattrick by Geordie Gwynn and tries by Ben Afshar and Jerry Blyth-Lafferty saw Scotland race to a 31-0 lead at the break.
The demolition continued after the break as a brace by Eddie Erskine, a second try by Afshar and two more by Corey Tait and Ben Salmon compounded Zimbabwe’s misery.
Fortunately for gaffer Shaun de Souza, his boys did not take the beating lying down, and turned the match into a contest during the final 15 minutes.
It was during this blitz that the nerves supposedly settled, and the Junior Sables showed glimpses of the team that almost went through the Barthes Trophy tournament without conceding a try some 10 weeks ago.
Tries from Edward Sigauke, Chiang, replacement Tawanda Matipano, Leo Mutendi and Shadreck Mandaza ended up bringing some respectability to the scoreline.
The day, however, belonged to Scotland’s captain Afshar, who added seven conversions to his two tries and finished the match with 24 points.
His opposite number, Zimbabwe’s Benoni Nhekairo, could only muster four conversions.
After the match, Junior Sables gaffer Shaun de Souza attributed the result to the bad start and nerves.
“It was definitely a game of two halves,” said the coach.
“It was the favourites of the competition playing the minnows, and we knew it was going to be a tough encounter going in.
“For me, it was about trying to contain the first-half scoreline, but, unfortunately, we failed to keep it down.
“We made it tough for us to come back, but we did play well in the second stanza.
“The boys played according to the plan because we have noticed that we play better when we play to our strengths,” he said.
As it pertains to injuries, Zuze, who took a nasty hit early in the match, was due to be assessed last night, but Lock Huntley Masterson has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament after he fractured his hand during the match.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter