Young Sables thrash Tunisia

Edward Schools’ Jubilee Field.
Zimbabwe needed six tries, two of them converted, and a penalty, to seal the victory and set up a potentially explosive final against old enemies Namibia at the same venue on Saturday.

What really caught the eye though was the hugely improved overall performance by the hosts who had struggled with their game in their opening assignment against Kenya last Saturday.
Through the heroics of former Prince Edward fly-half Luke Masasire who engineered good structured backline rugby for the Young Sables, Zimbabwe cruised to a comfortable win over the North Africans.

Masasire also added nine points on the board off a try and two conversions as Zimbabwe set up a perfect date against bitter rivals Namibia for the decider on Saturday.

There was a huge change for the better to the way Brighton Chivandire’s charges went about their business.
Despite the fact that talented fly-half Masasire had not played any form of rugby in three months, he turned on a five-star show.
Based at Dale College in South Africa where he has more interest in cricket than rugby, Masasire showed a huge difference with his presence in the team in yesterday’s match.

He was not able to play on Saturday upon arrival from the Under-19 cricket World Cup that was held in Australia.
With good communication skills, good ball distribution, cross dominance in his legs, and natural skill and talent, Masasire managed to up the Young Sables game and could easily be noticed as the difference between Saturday’s 13-10 win over Kenya and yesterday’s convincing performance.

“It was a great game but I think I could have done better because I have not been playing rugby for the past three months so there is real huge room for improvement for me.
“There was a lot of pressure in the game but I would also like to give it up to my team-mates who managed to step up and we played structured rugby, we played

to the game plan and with that we managed to destroy them.

“I missed a lot of conversions due to lack of kicking practice and definitely there is need to do something about it if we are to get the best off every try we score,” said Masasire.
The Young Sables showed a lot of zeal and power to win the game and within the first 15 minutes they had raced into a 15-0 lead.

First to have his name on the score-sheet was Kudzai Mashawi after he was set up by eighth man Tapiwa Tsomondo that followed a well worked out move by Masasire in the third minute of the game.
Masasire was spot on with his conversion.

It was not long before Tunisia were penalised for coming from the side and Zimbabwe captain Josh Smallbones opted for the posts, giving Zimbabwe a 10-0 lead off a Masasire left boot.

Former Under-18 winger Lance Chikodzi haunted the Tunisia defence in the 15th minute with a try but with Tarisai Musakanda and Masasire taking turns to miss on the afternoon, six possible conversions went to waste.

But if he missed some of the conversions, Masasire made some amends when he added his try on the board to give Zimbabwe a 20-0 lead going into the breather.
Lazzie Chisaya, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Chikodzi and scrummy Ian Surtees added Zimbabwe’s tries in the second half to seal their second win in the tournament.
Coach Chivandarie was a satisfied man after the game and also heaped some praise on Masasire.

“Every team relies on a number 10 and a number 10 who puts them on the front foot always works wonders in winning games and this being the second game we gelled well.
“I thought we were going to play much better than we did today and on a scale of one to ten I would say we were only at six.

“But I love the tempo shown by the boys in the first quarter of the game and that is how we were supposed to play.
“But unfortunately we lost the momentum, we just went to sleep and lost our pattern, and missed six conversions, that translates to 12 points we could have utilised but we need to work on that, its an area of concern,” said Chivandire.

In other games at the same venue, Namibia beat Kenya 39-11 before Madagascar overpowered Zambia 18-5 in a Pool A game while Harare Select pulled a shocker to beat Morocco 38-8.

By half-time Harare Select were leading 5-3 but they came back a more rejuvenated side in the second half to add 33 points while the visitors only managed an unconverted try.

Zimbabwe: Thabani Ndaba, Lazzie Chisaya, Clive Musasiwa, Joshua Smallbones (captain), Tariro Mashongamhende, , Daniel Rorke, Alva Senderayi, Tapiwa Tsomondo, Ian Surtees, Luke Masasire, Lance Chikodzi, Kudzai Mashawi, Richard Chigumba, Takudzwa Kumadiro, Tarisai Musakanda.