The Standard (Zimbabwe)

Junior Sables edge past Tunisia to reach Barthes Trophy semis

- BY DANIEL NHAKANISO BY TERRY MADYAUTA

Zimbabwe …… (11) 19 Tunisia…………... (5) 18

IMBABWE’S Under-20 National Rugby team needed a last gasp try from loose forward Tanaka Ndoro to edge Tunisia in a nervy Rugby Africa U20 Barthes Trophy quarter final clash at the Nyayo Internatio­nal Stadium in Nairobi yesterday.

The Junior Sables looked on course to miss out on a semi-final berth as they trailed 14-18 with two minutes remaining after surrenderi­ng a halftime lead against the North Africans.

All seemed lost for Zimbabwe until the hardworkin­g eighth man Ndoro dived over in the corner to seal a scrappy win which means they will now face Madagascar in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

While Zimbabwe will be delighted with the victory, they will be the first to admit that they were far from their best after a scrappy performanc­e characteri­sed by handling errors and lack of discipline at the breakdown and poor decision making in attack.

“It was quite a nervy start; I think the nerves did take over. The environmen­t, the game settings and the stadium I think was a lot for the boys but we are happy with the win. A one point win is still a win and now we are in the semifinal, we will focus on that and try and compose the boys and hopefully play the style of rugby we know we can play,” head coach Shaun De Souza after the match.

Zimbabwe went to the break leading 11-5 courtesy of the individual brilliance

Zof skipper Takudzwa Musingwini while the Tunisians had just one try to show for their efforts.

The gifted half slotted over two penalties before converting the Junior Sables’ only try of the opening half from front rower Brian Chiang.

Zimbabwe looked in control at the break, but they almost undid all their hard work in the second half.

After Musingwini and his Tunisian counterpar­t Ilyes Ayari traded penalties early in the second half.

The game turned into a penalty shootout as Tunisia scored another penalty through the incredible foot of Ayari from the 22 to reduce the deficit to three points. A resilient build-up by Tunisia paid off as Amine redeemed himself by touching down a try to make up for his earlier caution. Ilyes Ayari converted the extras to lead for the first time in the game with the scores 18-14.

However, it's Zimbabwe who grabbed the victory right at the end as Tanaka Gondo Mukandapi touched down a try to seal a crucial win which keeps their hopes of qualifying for next year’s Junior World Rugby Trophy alive.

The Junior Sables will now face Indian Ocean Islanders Madagascar, who qualified for the last four courtesy of a 26-14 win over Zambia.

Hosts Kenya thrashed their neighbours Uganda 54-20 in the other quarterfin­al match took book a semi-final date against Namibia, who were the biggest winners of the day following a 62-o win against Ivory Coast.

WHAWHA..............(1)3 CHICKEN INN........(0) GWERU-BASED side WhaWha put in arguably their best performanc­e of the season when they outmanoeuv­red title hopefuls Chicken Inn 3-0 at Ascot stadium yesterday.

Goals from Tineyi Chitora, Raymond Horonga and Jayden Barake were all the prison wardens needed to defeat the Gamecock and record their second set of maximum points and move to 17th position.

For Chicken Inn, the loss saw them drop to second position, with Dynamos now sitting on pole position despite a 0-0 draw with Ngezi Platinum yesterday at Baobab stadium.

The defeat was so painful that Chicken Inn coach Joey Antipas was left fuming at his players, for a bad attitude and poor defending throughout the match.

In truth, Chicken Inn's backline lacked pace, with the aging Moses Jackson and Itai Mabunu struggling to contain the speed of the youthful pair of Barake and winger Michael Sibanda.

As a result the Gamecocks have now conceded six goals in the two matches, a feat that the veteran gaffer thinks could dent their title hopes.

"Very well played WhaWha, they definitely took us to the cleaners. I would say that everything did not go well for us, everything went wrong today," fumed Antipas.

"I am disappoint­ed with this result. I thought we could do better, but our attitude was the main cause of our downfall. It's a marathon and we need to fix the worrying areas."

What further infuriated the former Warriors gaffer is the fact that his men were so poor in attack that they did not manage a single shot on target for the entire game, with top strikers Brian Muza and Michael Charamba chasing shadows.

"We didn't have a shot on target for the entire game. The players simply didn't pitch up, and I blame it on our attitude today," he added.

"These boys had a bad attitude because they were playing a team at the bottom of the log, but look now the result ended on the wrong side.

"I blame it on the defensive errors which we could have easily averted. These were all soft goals. It is all our own doing. We plotted our own downfall, but we have to keep our heads high."

The prison wardens were forced to pull out Dibbelar Mapuwa owing to a muscle sprain after 21 minutes, with Tineyi Chitora replacing him.

While Mapuwa was stretched off the pitch in pain, the introducti­on of Chitora turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he went on to score with his first touch, a minute later.

The wardens returned from the break with the same impetus and doubled their lead in the 51st minute following a sizzling counter attack which was finished off by Horonga in the box.

Barake sealed the game for the prison wardens nine minutes from time with a beautiful goal from close range after dispossess­ing Chicken Inn's last man Jackson outside the box before darting a low shot past goalie Bernard.

That was Barake's six goal of the season, as he continues to punch above his weight as the wardens shining beacon.

Teams

WHAWHA: T Chiku, M Sibanda, R Useni, A Matope, M Chirwa, R Horonga, D Mapuwa(T Chitora 21) , T Jukulile, J Barake( A Matewu 90), N Tshuma(E Brown 84), T Saka

CHICKEN INN: D Bernard, R Hachiro, M Charamba ( M Hwata 58') , N Ketala, M Jackson, B Amidu, I Mabunu, X Ndlovu, S Mhlanga, B Ncube (M Pini 71) B Muza (G Majika 49')

 ?? ?? The Junior Sables pose for a team photo before their Rugby Africa U20 Barthes Trophy tie against Tunisia in Nairobi yesterday
The Junior Sables pose for a team photo before their Rugby Africa U20 Barthes Trophy tie against Tunisia in Nairobi yesterday

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Zimbabwe