The Sunday News
Tinashe Kusema, Harare Bureau
Zimbabwe ……………………… (10) 56
Zambia……………………………. (3) 3
ZIMBABWE’S Sables might still be some way to reaching their fluid best but they turned on the power in the second half to show the gulf between them and Zambia in their second international rugby friendly inside a week at Harare Sport Club’s Machinery Exchange Stadium on Saturday.
With coach Brendan Dawson having made five changes to his starting 15 as he seeks to get Zimbabwe back in the groove of things after a long layoff, it still showed that the Sables are still some way into executing their patterns to perfection.
Nevertheless, to their credit the Sables still managed to get the job done, overrunning the visitors in a second half show that belonged to wing Shingirai Katsvere who planted a hat-trick of tries.
It helped atone for a below par first half performance by the hosts.
While Katsvere had a performance to remember, the same could not be said for Riaan O’Neill who struggled with his game at flyhalf for the second time.
In the opening period, the Zambians were given a somewhat false sense of confidence that they could take the game to the hosts.
In fact, for the better part of 53 minutes, it almost looked as if they could as they matched the Sables pound-for-pound and the half-time score also suggested as much as unconverted tries by Martin Mangongo and Katsvere separated the two sides.
Skipper Hilton Mudariki had failed to get it right with his boot for the two tries.
The script however, changed after Dawson’s pep talk and Zimbabwe began to play to the levels their potential had always shown.
Three quick tries from Katsvere, which were later complemented by more touch downs by Brendon Mandivenga, Brandon Mudzekenyedzi, Biselele Tshamala, Dudlee White-Sharpley and Mudariki, completely turned the game on its head.
Suddenly, the Sables looked like a completely different outfit.
Even the kicking improved, with their captain making up for his two earlier misses when he got one right before handing the conversion duties to White-Sharpley.
Apart from scoring a try, White-Sharpley chipped in with two conversions of his own.
In the end, Dawson painted a picture of mild satisfaction.
“It’s all about time on the field, and we need to get more time on the field.
“It took us the second half to switch on, and realise how we want to do it.
“The first half was a bit appalling, but the guys performed better in the second.
“Credit to Shingi Katsvere, he is an amazing player, and he got us on the front foot.
“He gave us the edge and we managed to work off that,” Dawson said.
For the second time in as many matches, it was a tale of a game of two halves for Zambian skipper Ali Bhika.
“First of all, credit to Zimbabwe for a fantastic game,” said Bhika.
“In the first half, I think we came out of the blocks well, but we missed a few chances and could have done better.
“As for Zimbabwe, their systems came into place in the second half and we didn’t help ourselves by missing tackles and letting them dominate the set pieces.
“Now it’s time for us to get back to the drawing board, and see how we can improve,” Bhika said.
That the Sables have also managed to get a winning mentality in doing the double over Zambia should also give Dawson a launch pad from which he can get them to improve on the weaknesses detected in the back to back encounters.
In earlier matches, the Zimbabwe Under-20 side proved too strong for Zambia Youth Select thumping them 65-12 while the Women fell 38-17 to the visitors. – @Nashaar
