adminShevardeni Stadium on Wednesday afternoon coach Brighton Chivandire believes the loss came as a result of some poor decision-making.
This was not the first time that the Zimbabwe Under-20 side were taking on the Asians, having met them at the same stage of the same competition last year as they were both in Pool B.
Then, the two sides played a 20-20 draw in Moscow, Russia, where Japan had to come from behind to score a late try that saw the game ending in a stalemate, disappointing the Young Sables who had dominated the match.
But it was a completely different script altogether on Tuesday as the Young Sables failed to contain the Japanese, especially in the first half where they only managed a penalty against Japan’s 23 points.
Zimbabwe were totally outclassed in all the departments in the first half where a Tom Nelson penalty gave them a second minute lead, but that was to be shortlived.
It was the centre pairing of Shunsuke Numonaki and Lafaele Vaifu that caused most of the problems for Japan in the first half as their opposite numbers Corey van Rensburg and Takura Teal could not contain them.
This was the pattern for the better part of the game as the Japanese were up to scratch in the forwards, their backline was fast and they were good enough to force Zimbabwe make mistakes and turnover balls. And the Young Sables coach Chivandire yesterday pointed out some of the mistakes the he saw in this match.
“It all comes down to decision-making and I think that was our biggest letdown. The wind was not favourable (to us) as we tried to kick for touch and the Japanese had a lot of possession.
“I am not happy with the result but the boys performance was outstanding, especially in the second half and the Japanese had a lot of tempo and the pressure was on us in the first half,” said Chivandire.
Cheetahs player Justin Coles was out of sorts, jittery with the ball most of the times and at one point he had a good chance to help Zimbabwe add more points to the board but he fumbled a pass from Takudzwa Mandiwanza.
Old Haraians fullback Lungile Tshuma was in good form, as he has always exhibited even during the league games, and he was key in the two tries that Zimbabwe scored late in the game.
Takudzwa Jaravaza, Charles Jiji and captain Marco Mama were equally strong and enthusiastic and maybe this was because they were part of the side that faced the Japanese last year.
Japan also retained four of their players from the last meeting with Zimbabwe in Russia last year in the form of scrum half and captain Keisuke Uchida, prop Mao Enoki, Vaifu and wing Masakatsu Hikosaka.
However, it was in the second half that Zimbabwe realised something about the game and whatever Chivandire might have told his boys seemed to work.
The Young Sables, through Tela, were again the first to score in this half and Nelson carefully put to good use the conversion that saw the boys regain confidence and start to attack.
A double substitution in the 60th minute saw winger Kuda Chiwanza and Shane Joubert coming in for Hilton Mudariki and Farai Jijita, and Jiji was moved to scrumhalf taking over the task from Mudariki while Chiwanza took over number 14.
Six minutes later another double substitution came Zimbabwe’s way as this saw the introduction of Dylan Coetzee for injured Tela and Murray Bryce-Rodgers for Zeru Makomva. Buoyed by these substitutions, Zimbabwe became stronger as Chiwanza rose from the bench to find their second five-pointer in the 73rd minute and likewise Coetzee added another try in the last minute of the game.
“I am happy with all the players and we do not have any special players in the team but each one of them is there to play his role and that is just what they did today (on Tuesday).
“Every player brings a different dimension to the game and we saw that when we made the substitutions.
“We made the changes and it began to work and three of the substitutions were technical while Tela’s was forced due to an (ankle) injury.
But it was not like the Japanese were just watching Zimbabwe as they also had four second half substitutions and two converted tries by Vaifu and Jungkyu Kim, 25 minutes into the second half.
Japan finished second at last year’s tournament after topping Pool B while Zimbabwe, who were bottom of the four-team group, finished seventh overall.
Mama believes they were slow to settle down and became nervous as this was their first game.
“We were very nervous and that is why our first half performance was not good, but I hope we will be better in the second game,” said the England-based flanker.
The Young Sables are expected to take on hosts Georgia at the Avchala Stadium on Saturday night and will have a gym session this morning before training at the match venue in the afternoon.
Zimbabwe Squad
Zer Makomva, Tatenda Karuru, Murray Bryce-Rodgers, Takudzwa Jaravaza, Regis Mutangadura, Farai Jijita, Sean Joubert, Takudzwa Mandiwanza, Charles Jiji, Thomas Nelson, Dylan Coetzee, Kuda Chiwanza, Justin Coles, Corey van Rensburg. Simba Gonese, Ian Muza, Delroy Sibanda, Kuda Mudariki, Sean Linfield, Takura Tela, Marco Mama, Graham Logan, Lungile Tshuma, Victor Mushoriwa, Marcus Nel.
Coach: Brighton Chivandire
Assistant: Godwin Murambiwa
Doctor: Austin Jeans
Physio: Margie Gibson
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