Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE captain Hilton Mudariki has made two bold statements that paint quite a different picture of the Sables’ humbling 40-0 defeat at the hands of a well-balanced and highly motivated South Africa A rugby side over the weekend.
The hosts put six unanswered tries past Zimbabwe at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last Saturday, with Yaqeen Ahmed, Markus Muller, Haashim Pead, Nico Steyn, Oman Khan and Jaco Williams all touching down for the Springboks’ aspirants.
Ahmed chipped in with three conversions while fullback Luan Giliomee added two more as South Africa put up a clinic in front of their home fans.
“Obviously we are disappointed with the result,” said Mudariki.
“We felt we prepared well and there were periods of the game where we showed what we are capable of.
“However, but we weren’t consistent enough as a whole and credit to the opposition, who executed their plans better than we did.
“We know we are capable of better performances and that’s something we will be looking to address before the Nations Cup campaign,” he said.
While it will be easy to chalk off Mudariki’s sentiments as a captain defending his charges and doing some damage control, the Sables skipper does go on to make a couple of key observations from the match.
The first, according to Mudariki, is that the game and the result of the match go down to two key factors – efficiency and consistency.
“I think it all came down to a few key moments in the game,” said Mudariki.
“At this level, small mistakes can make a big difference, and we weren’t clinical enough when opportunities came our way.
“We also allowed the opposition to gain momentum during important periods of the match,” he said
According to the statistics, the 40-0 scoreline was not a blowout performance rather a blowout in execution. This comes the discovery that, for the most part, Zimbabwe matched South Africa A dominating in possession at 58-42 percent split.
South Africa A dominated field position, not ball time as the Sables’ 48 percent against SA A 52 percent.
When it came to territory, the Sables won that battle with a 59 percent against the hosts 41.
Zimbabwe actually spent more time in South Africa A’s half.
However, the key difference here is that the hosts made better use of their time with the ball.
“We will be looking at improving our consistency, sharpening our execution and making better decisions in key moments,” said Mudariki.
“The Nations Cup is around the corner, so it’s important that we learn from this match and continue building as a group,” he said.
In other departments, the Sables managed to match and, sometimes, in outperform the hosts.
Mudariki reserved praise for his forwards, who actually outperformed their opponents as they put up quite the shift.
It is one of the positives that the Zimbabwe Sables camp can take away from the match as it puts them in better standing going forward.
“Positively, I thought the effort and commitment from the players was excellent and there were some encouraging individual and team performances,” he said.
“On the negative side, our execution under pressure wasn’t where it needs to be and there are aspects of our game that we know we can improve.”
