adminPaul Munyuki Sports Reporter
OLD HARARIANS coach Cyprian “Supa’ Mandenge feels his side will have to put in a lot of work if they entertain any hopes of defending their National Rugby League title when the conference competition resumes next week.
The Old Boys are in a rather precarious position having lost to both Harare Sports Club and Old Georgians in the first half of the league.
“It is not going to be easy given this long break because our league is not a professional league and so most players would not turn up for training sessions knowing they are not going to play any game at the weekend.
“Such is the nature of the game in Zimbabwe, but that is how the economic situation is like and we can’t really blame the boys and it will be like the league is just starting over again as the players will only hit the right momentum later on.
“Maybe the only positive thing that might have come out of the break is that those players that were injured would have recuperated,” said Mandenge.
Mandenge became the first coach to lead the Old Boys to a league title in over a decade last year having crossed floors from Sports Club.
“We lost two of our games in the first half of the season and we have to make up for these games, the good thing is that we managed to pick bonus points in most of the games we played,” said Mandenge.
“We know how both these teams managed to score against us, so for us, it’s just about working to shut them down, there was nothing special about the tries we conceded against them because these were just push-over tries.
“Away (out of town) games have always been tricky because it is always difficult to travel with the full strength side as some of the players will be having other commitments, especially work, and they cannot make it for such games.
“Busters have always been a tricky team, we lost against Old Georgians and Sports Club due to bad calls but we need to focus on what’s coming now and forget about whatever happened in the first half against these sides.”
Mandenge knows it’s what he is capable of controlling that will win him the league title for the second year in a row.
“The beauty of this game called rugby is that one will always get a bite of the cherry, we want to use our home advantage to the fullest because most of the games in the first half we were away, especially against Sports Club and Old Georgians,” said Mandege.
“Fly-half Tichafara Makwanya has been seeing the physiotherapist because of his groin. We expect Leroy Mashiri to be back, same for McLean Muhambi who had a shoulder injury.”
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