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Zimbabwe………….………….. (12) 29
Algeria…………………………….. 3
COACH Piet Benade could hardly contain his excitement as he went around playfully slapping the backs of his Sables’ bench during the closing stages of Zimbabwe’s 29-3 victory over Algeria in Kampala, Uganda yesterday.
His name was already written in the chapters of Zimbabwe rugby history after orchestrating the Sables’ first win over old foes Namibia in 23 years.
Yesterday’s win over Algeria, which duly saw the Sables crowned African champions, was just the icing on the cake.
And, his huge smile aptly told the story.
By virtue of the win, Zimbabwe have secured the top seed for next year’s competition which will act as the main qualifiers for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Algeria will be seeded second while Namibia secured third place courtesy of their 38-27 win over Kenya in the 2024 Africa Cup third and fourth-place play-off earlier in the day.
Next year’s competition will feature all four teams – Zimbabwe, Algeria, Namibia and Kenya- with the finalists securing their berth to the global showcase Down Under.
But that is a story for another day.
Yesterday, the Sables were crowned champions and there seems to be a changing of the guard taking place.
Hilton Mudariki and the boys got the job done, and one could even say convincingly.
Zimbabwe got on the scoreboard courtesy of a brace of tries from Trevor Gurwe while Liam Larkan and Brandon Mudzekenyedzi added another one try each.
An outright favourite for Player-of-the-Tournament and Zimbabwe fullback Tapiwa Mafura added three conversions and a penalty.
The post-match interviews of Mudariki and his deputy Aiden Burnett told of a team on cloud nine.
“It’s a great moment,” said Burnett, who was crowned Player-of-the-Match in yesterday’s final.
“The last six months, we really put in the work, gunning for this position and it has finally come. “We are so happy; we have been training for this moment, day in and day in, and I can’t put into words the feeling.
“We trained for seven days a week, dug deep for this as it has been on our agenda for the last six months.”
The skipper added:
“It has been an unreal tournament. It has been a very tough week of competitive rugby and to finally get this moment is truly special.
“I have been doing this (playing rugby) for a very long time, fighting for this moment and to finally do it with this special group of boys is truly special and amazing.”
Online Reporter