Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
Zimbabwe Under-20 (17) 35
Namibia Under-20 (11) 23
THE match between hosts Zimbabwe and Kenya this weekend has just been turned into a final, with the winner walking away as the African champions.
More importantly, the winner will have booked themselves a ticket to the Junior World Trophy slated for July 1-17 in Scotland.
This follows the two sides’ resounding victories over Namibia and Tunisia during matchday two of the ongoing Barthes Trophy, at Harare Sports Club’s Machinery Exchange Stadium yesterday.
Kenya made light work of Tunisia 56-17 in the most one-sided affair the tournament has produced this term.
After falling behind early to a Tunisian try, Kenya rallied from behind to equalize through Iddo Kuta’s converted try after which Michael Wamalwa, a brace from Alvin Khavoli, Michael Wamalwa, Bramwell Anekeya, Willy Tino and Brian Shile touched down to hammer the North Africans.
Kenya’s power-game proved effective as they bullied their smaller opponents into submission.
The match between Zimbabwe and Namibia then turned into a precursor of what Junior Sables coach,
Shaun De Souza and his boys will face come Sunday as the young Welwitschias employ a similar game, albeit with less the size.
To their credit, the Zimbabwe Junior Sables held their own and defended like their lives depended on it.
The hosts kept to their guns and employed their traditional running game to good effect and got on the scoreboard through tries from loose-head prop Emmanuel Gabi, winger Shammah Jackson, Emmanuel Magutakuona and a sublime solo effort from their trusted talisman Edward Sigauke.
Skipper Benoni Nhekairo chipped in with three conversions and a penalty.
Replacement kicker Wayne Kunaka added two more penalties, kicks that proved to be decisive as they came during the dying embers of the match when Namibia threatened to steal a win.
In response, former Southern African champions Namibia got their scores through tries by hooker Armand Combrink, winger Jurgen Meyer and fullback Liam Dick.
Flyhalf Petrus Tromp chipped in with two penalties. The encounter was the true definition of “a match of two halves” as Zimbabwe took early control of the match courtesy of converted tries by Magutakuona, Sigauke and a penalty by Nhekairo.
Their opponents found Zimbabwe’s defence unyielding as the best they could do was an unconverted try by Meyer and Tromp’s penalties.
Zimbabwe’s only blemish was Vuyani Zimbabwe and Kenya Ncube getting sent to the sin bin after the centre lost his cool at the 30-minute mark.
Luckily, Namibia failed to take advantage of Ncube’s yellow card, as they failed to put their numerical advantage to good use and put some points on the board.
Namibia came back a totally different and more determined side after the breather and twice reduced the gap to six points.
Unfortunately, at every turn, Zimbabwe found a way to steer ahead, whether through a try by Jackson or Kunaka’s boot.
De Souza was all-smiles after the match and paid tribute to his charges’ much-improved performance.
“The team performed to our expectations,” said the Zimbabwe gaffer.
“Obviously, it’s a test match and Namibia is one of our biggest rivals in African rugby and we knew they were going to come guns blazing.
“They are coached by a legend of the game, an ex-springbok coach and he took the Namibian senior team to a world Cup- Allister Coetzee.
“Credit to him and his boys, but I think I am happy with my boys’ performance.
“The only blemish is probably the injuries and niggles we faced as we finished the game with 13 men after having used up all our substitutions,” he said.
De Souza was happy with his players’ set-piece as Zimbabwe won most of their line-outs and their scrummaging was much better as compared to the Tunisia game.
Namibia’s skipper Combrinck, however, cast the picture of a dejected man.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted after giving it everything we had,” said Combrinck.
“Silly errors cost us the game and Zimbabwe to their credit, capitalised on each and every one of them.
“That was the difference-maker for us.
“We came here intend of powering and dominating them, which we did for most of the game, but those silly errors and mistakes cost us,” he said.
Online Reporter