The Sunday News
ZIMBABWE national Under-18 rugby team coach Godwin “Jaws” Murambiwa has expressed disappointment with the Young Sables’ performance at the recently ended Under-18 Copa Coca-Cola Craven Week in Middelburg, South Africa.
The Old Mutual sponsored Young Sables lost all the three matches they played, two of them against South African provincial teams while the other loss was to fellow international side Namibia on the last day of the week-long event. It was the first time since 2005 that Zimbabwe have returned from the Under-18 Craven Week without a win.
In an interview soon after the defeat to Namibia last Saturday, Murambiwa blamed the team’s defence for the losses considering that while they scored a lot of tries, they still conceded more than they scored which resulted in them coming out second best in all the matches they played.
Zimbabwe scored 13 tries at the Under-18 Craven Week but at the same time let in 17 tries which was a sign of a weak defensive structure.
Zimbabwe started off their campaign with a 54-41 defeat at the hands of Eastern Province Country Districts, a match, in which they had a bad start, letting in some soft tries. The Stephen Bhasera captained Young Sables did try to find their way back into the match but were not successful.
In their second fixture at the tournament, Zimbabwe took on Griquas Country Districts, a match they were hugely expected to win since their opponents are usually one of the weakest teams at the tournament. Zimbabwe took a 13-0 early led only to let the boys from Griqualand fight their way back and eventually win 26-20.
With two losses in the build up to the traditional meeting against Namibia, Zimbabwe were now under lots of pressure to deliver. The match against Namibia was played away from the television cameras at Middelburg High School and not at the main venue High Technical School Middelburg because all the teams were in action on the closing day of the Craven Week.
ZRU president John Falkenberg personally delivered a message of inspiration to the Young Sables before they squared off with Namibia. That seems to have not worked as Namibia outscored Zimbabwe 38-25, a result which saw the Young Sables return home winless.
Murambiwa was particularly disappointed by the team’s showing against Namibia because at some stage, Zimbabwe were just six points away with a chance of winning the match before indecision by the backline saw them being sucked in their own 22 metre line, conceded a penalty which resulted in Namibia going over the line which killed off any hopes of Zimbabwe winning the match.
“I am very disappointed by our performance, I thought we had improved defensively as the tournament progressed. Our defence was weak, that is why while we scored as many tries, we still conceded more. Against Namibia, each time we were five points away, we let them score, I have seen better Namibian teams and this was certainly not their best team,’’ said Murambiwa.
The coach, who has been in charge of the Young Sables since 2006, said his boys lacked the experience as shown by the fact that eight of the 22 players he took to South Africa are still eligible for selection for next year’s Craven Week. Only three players who were part of the team last year made it again this year, these being Bhasera, loose forward Tinashe Gonese and winger Tawanda Ngosi.
Bhasera felt that lack of consistency had let them down during the Craven Week. The Young Sables skipper said at least they had shown that they could compete against the South African provinces as well as Namibia and match them physically.
The Young Sables were accompanied to South Africa by a representative of the team’s bankrollers Old Mutual, Tendai Mutseyekwa, who is the Old Mutual Zimbabwe group senior communications consultant, journalists from various local media houses who were also funded by Old Mutual and parents of most of the players who came to offer support to their children.
