Chronicle Editor
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
DESPITE his team thumping Burkina Faso 101-3 in a Rugby Africa Cup Pool D encounter at Old Georgians Sports Club on Sunday, Zimbabwe coach Brendan Dawson feels there is still a lot of work to be done if the Sables are to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
The Sables scored 15 tries against the Stallions to record their second biggest victory in Test rugby only bettered by their 130-10 drubbing of Botswana in September 1996. Zimbabwe’s defence was not breached at all by the west Africans, who got their three points from a first half penalty goal converted by Kassoum Deme.
What impressed Dawson the most against Burkina Faso was how the Sables went about the scrums and line-outs, as they showed improvement from their two friendlies against Zambia last month.
“It was very nice for the guys. It was a good target to achieve, but in saying that, we weren’t as accurate and clinical as I wanted us to be. My scrumming and line-out work was a lot better than against Zambia,” Dawson said.
The former Sables’ skipper is already looking to the future with his desire being to see his team getting better.
“I am chuffed, but there is still a lot of work to do and it’s going to be coming in game time.”
Sunday’s match gave Dawson the opportunity to have a look at their sole Pool D opponents, as he had been relying on video footage when Burkina Faso played against Cameroon in last month’s Rugby Africa Repechage.
He now has an idea of how to plan against them ahead of the final pool fixture on Thursday.
“Now that we have seen them play, it’s a totally different side to what we watched playing against Cameroon. They are physical and we’ve got to ensure that we front up, make sure that when their backline gets the ball, we shut down their space and put in those crucial tackles,” said Dawson.
Thursday’s clash is now a mere formality, as the Sables are guaranteed of finishing top of the pool.
Zimbabwe have Ivory Coast waiting for them in the quarter-finals, with Burkina Faso set to face Namibia next year.
The path to World Cup qualification is not an easy one for the Sables, as they have to face Namibia in the semis if the two teams win their respective quarter-final fixtures.
Winners of next year’s Rugby Africa Cup will automatically qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France and slot into Pool A with the hosts, three-time champions New Zealand and the team that wins Americas’ qualifiers.
Runners-up in the 2022 Rugby Africa Cup also have an opportunity of heading to France via the final qualification tournament to be played in November next year.
Zimbabwe have not been to the World Cup since 1991. Zimbabwe represented the African continent at the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cups while South Africa were still barred from competing in international sporting events due to apartheid.
South Africa have been to every World Cup from 1995 and the closest Zimbabwe came to qualifying was in 2014 when they finished second to Namibia in the African qualifier.
While Namibia qualified automatically for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, Zimbabwe stood another chance of qualifying via the Repechage process in which they were beaten by Russia. — @Mdawini_29
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