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Mehluli Sibanda in Paarl, South Africa
AFTER registering two consecutive wins at the Under-18 Coca-Cola Under-18, the Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 side is now shifting its focus to the last match against Namibia tomorrow.
The Junior Sables opened the schoolboy rugby tournament with a 29-27 win over South African Learners with Special Education Needs on Monday followed by a convincing 44-19 victory against Blue Bulls Country Districts on Wednesday.
It was an exceptional display by the Zimbabwean lads, who scored seven tries and conceded three in their second match.
The intensity pleased coach Scott Gray ahead of what is certainly their biggest match of the tournament against Namibia. Gray gave his players time off to recharge before they take on Namibia.
“The boys are gonna have a rest now, do their pool recovery and then have a day off. On Friday morning they can relax, we will watch videos and focus on Namibia.
“We filmed their two games so we will go through what Namibia are likely to bring and how we are going to stop them and then the opportunities that we will have to be able to attack Namibia,” Gray said.
He felt his players had made his job even more difficult with their performance on Wednesday, as he tries to come up with his starting 15 for the big clash with Namibia.
“I said to the players they have made the decision of who gets the starting positions for the Namibia game very difficult, but it’s absolutely everything that we want. It’s a fantastic situation to be in; there are still a couple of injury concerns, some boys are struggling so we will see how they pull up,” he said.
Just like Zimbabwe, Namibia won their opening two matches. They beat Valke CD 41-8 Valke on Monday and then edged Griquas 18-15 on Wednesday.
Last year, Zimbabwe lost 27-24 to Namibia in a match they led 14-7 at the break. — @Mdawini_29
Online Reporter