The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
DAYS after handing out a rugby lesson to Burkina Faso by drubbing the West Africans 101-3 in a Rugby Africa Cup pool D match played at Old Georgians Sports Club in Harare on Sunday, Zimbabwe decided to extend a kind gesture to their opponents by training with them.
The two teams held a training session at OGs on Tuesday ahead of their second pool D match at the same venue on Thursday.
“Zimbabwe shared a gesture of solidarity and highlighted their commitment to growing African rugby by having a training session with Burkina Faso after beating them 101-3,’’ said Rugby Africa.
The Sables, ranked 34 in the World Rugby rankings showed that there was a massive gap between them and the Stallions who are number 90 when they ran in 15 tries with their defence not breached at all on Sunday.
With Zimbabwe having a points difference of 98, the second match of the pool on Thursday is now just a mere formality with the Sables guaranteed of finishing on top of the group. Zimbabwe will face Ivory Coast in the quarterfinals of the Rugby Africa Cup while Namibia are Burkina Faso’s opponents in the last eight of the tournament that forms part of the 2023 Rugby World Cup qualification pathway.
Pool D was reduced to just two teams when Tunisia, who were meant to host the matches were forced to pull out as hosts due to rising cases of the coronavirus in the North African country. The Tunisian rugby team also withdrew from the tournament after authorities in that country refused to grant them permission to travel to Zimbabwe.
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