Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) 7
Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (19) 43
THE good news is that the Zimbabwe diaspora community came in their numbers to support the Sables.
The DIY Kitchens Stadium was almost full to the brim, with a sea of white and green dominating the West End stand.
Sadly, that was not enough to push the team to victory, as Samoa put on a masterclass in their thumping win over Zimbabwe on Saturday night.
Samoa showed their class against Zimbabwe to run in seven tries and claim their second win of the tournament in the first-ever meeting between the sides.
In front of a lively crowd, it was the Samoans who largely dominated proceedings during a formidable display of skill and strength.
Yet the Sables’ spirits never sagged, and they scored a late consolation try through Dale Lemon, who was marking his debut in Zimbabwe colours.
Replacement Bruce Houston duly converted.
Samoa, who named a powerful side with former All Blacks Josh Ioane and Shaun Stevenson making debuts, along with AJ Lam and Chris Gabriel, established a commanding 19-0 half-time lead after winger Latrell Ah Kiong scored twice and Peter Umaga-Jensen also touched down.
Samoa led in the seventh minute with an exquisite finish from Ah Kiong, who showed outstanding strength and dexterity to touch down acrobatically in the right corner.
It was just reward for their vibrant start, and a second try arrived when Ah Kiong doubled his tally with another spectacular finish in the right corner.
Zimbabwe were undone again when Lalomilo Lalomilo intercepted an errant pass and unselfishly offloaded to centre partner Umaga-Jensen to score.
Hooker Richie Asiata was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin, but Samoa were already 19-0 ahead at the break, and they cut loose in the second half.
Ben Nee-Nee, Ah Kiong with his hat-trick score, Miracle Faiilagi and debutant Lam all scored for Samoa, with Lemon touching down for Zimbabwe, much to the delight of their supporters.
The win breathed new life into Samoa’s World Rugby Nations Cup campaign, with their seven tries seeing them get the bonus-point win and climb their way up the log standings.
Sables coach Piet Benade will have plenty to dissect ahead of Zimbabwe’s next game against Uruguay.
And the loss leaves Zimbabwe stuck at the bottom of their group with two points, and still searching for their first win of the new tournament, created to give next year’s Rugby World Cup participants some competitive game time.
Georgia and Portugal top Pool B with 19 and 17 points respectively, while Spain, Romania and Hong Kong China follow suit with 13, 11 and five points respectively.
Zimbabwe (2) remain bottom after four games. In Pool A, Samoa’s win pushed them to second on 12 points, two behind log leaders the United States of America.
Tonga (12), Chile (10), Uruguay (8) and Canada (7) wrap up the Pool A standings.
After the match, Zimbabwe captain Hilton Mudariki was left with no option but to concede defeat, saying: “Credit to Samoa because they showed their class today (Saturday).
“It shows we have got a lot to work on, but our fans were amazing, so we will just keep building.”— Zimpapers Sports Hub /World Rugby.
