Super Sables sparkle

victory over Kenya in their second leg of the Victoria Cup tournament at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
A deserved 42-24 win over the East Africans is expected to see the Zimbabweans continue on an upward trend on the International Rugby Board World Rankings set to be released later today.
Going into this game the Sables were ranked 40th, five places below Kenya, and the result will see the hosts gain at least four places and become the fourth strongest rugby nation in Africa.
In front of a capacity crowd, Zimbabwe did not disappoint the home support.
This win saw the Sables make a follow up triumph to their tour of Uganda two weeks ago when they beat Uganda in the opening game that also served as a Victoria Cup fixture before thrashing Madagascar.
The blending of youth and experience is beginning to yield results for Zimbabwe as six of the players in the starting line up have graduated from the Under-20 side since 2007.
Flyhalf Tichafara Makwanya, fullback Daniel Robertson, winger Kudakwashe Chiwanza, scrummy Charles Jiji, lock Schalk Ferreira and tight head prop Brian Makamure have grown through the system.
Of these six players, Makwanya came from the 2007 side while the rest were part of the sides that took part at the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Russia last year and Georgia this year.
The win on Saturday saw the Sables put on their best opening performance in recent years and this is arguably the best side the Sables have had in the last eight years.
Zimbabwe’s best winning run was in 1987 when they won four games in a row after beating the then Soviet Union (18-9), Nigeria (111-12), Madagascar (66-15) and Kenya (44-12).
With Uganda expected to take on the Sables on Saturday at Bulawayo’s Hartsfield Rugby Grounds, a win here will see the Sables equal the 1987 record.
However, it is the win against Kenya that Zimbabwe is celebrating after on-song flyhalf Makwanya, top scored for the hosts, weighing in with four conversions and three penalties while in-from Nechironga added a brace of tries.
Other points came from man-of-the-match Jiji who scored his first try for the Sables with Robertson and flanker Jacques Leitao also adding one apiece.
By half-time the Sables had taken a 20-5 lead through Nechironga’s converted brace and two penalties while the tourists saw Daniel Kiptoo getting a 29th minute unconverted try.
However, in the second half, the Sables defence was not as solid as it was in the first half as they conceded 19 points but the hosts had already set a good base in the first and 22 points in the second period ensured victory.
The Sables back line was flowing well, debutante winger Chiwanza proved his ability to handle pressure with good defence work, Robertson’s value was priceless while the centre pairing of Cleopas Makotose and captain Daniel Hondo proved a hard nut to crack.
And in the forwards the experience of veteran hooker Prayer Chitenderu and lock Costa Dinha pairing Ferreira could not be undermined and gave a tough time to Shujaa especially on the line outs.
Props Makamure and Denford Mutamangira gave the front row trio of Joel Ng’an’ga, Vincent Ongera and Daniel Kiptoo tough times in the scrums, doing all the good work for Jiji to have an easy ball to the backs.
Sables coach Brandon Dawson reckons confidence and team work won the game for his side while Kenya captain Victor Sudi believes several mistakes made his side fall.
At some point it seemed Shujaa dominated in the forwards as two of their tries came from pushovers in the Zimbabwe 22-metre but the Sables technical team were alert and managed to read the Kenya game.
This saw Dawson making a double substitution in the 69th minute when the versatile hooker Tatenda Karuru came in for Chitenderu to earn his first Sables cap while Njabulo Ndlovu had to make way for flanker Shingi Mpofu.
The Sports Club captain was also joined by lock Fortune Chipendo and changes in the forward pack saw the side stabilise and it was soon after these substitutions that the Sables added another try.
Robertson, who always looked dangerous on the attack, planted the try following a move that was orchestrated by Makotose who offloaded to Nechironga and the Old Georgians fullback planted in the Kenya in-goal.
Crowd favourite Jiji, split the whole of the Kenya defence side, stepping and dummied his way out of the Shujaa mob to score an invaluable five pointer, sending the Zimbabwe fans into frenzy.
Even the Zimbabwe hockey team were there to support their rugby counterparts and they were definitely the noisiest of the supporters that graced the Lions Den.