Sables survive Uganda Cranes onslaught

Zimpapers Sports Hub

Zimbabwe…………………………. 22

Uganda……………………………. (0) 20

A GAME of two halves indeed!

This might be one of sports’ biggest clichés, but it aptly describes the Africa Cup quarter-finals’ match between Zimbabwe and hosts Uganda at the Mandela National Stadium in Namboole yesterday.

Coach Piet Benade and his Sables will count themselves lucky as the 22 points they put on the board during a first-half flurry was enough to brush off a strong Uganda Cranes fightback in the second stanza.

The win means Zimbabwe proceed to the semi-finals of the remodelled Africa Cup tournament, which is being used as the preliminary rounds of the 2027 Rugby World Cup scheduled for Australia.

Next up is an all-too-familiar foe in Namibia, who beat Burkina Faso 38-5 in the other quarter-final.

Both results should give Benade some sleepless nights ahead of Wednesday’s Southern Africa derby against Namibia.

The Sables gaffer was probably smiling at the halfway stage of yesterday’s match as tries by debutant Edward Sigauke, Takudzwa Musingwini and Kudzai Mashawi saw Zimbabwe race into what seemed a comfortable 22-0 lead at the break.

The returning Ian Prior, operating at fly half, found the kicking tough largely due to the wind and he chipped in with two conversions and a penalty.

He did, however, miss a conversion and a penalty, five points Zimbabwe were almost made to pay for as the game cantered towards the end.

The Cranes spent large chunks of the time camped in their half and were guilty of many schoolboy errors, often leading to turnovers in the first 40 minutes.

Uganda coach Fred Mudoola must have given his charges a tough pep talk, as they came back a completely different side, while the wheels came off for Zimbabwe.

The Sables failed to add to the scoreboard and were forced on the back foot, thanks largely to the magic of fullback Philip Wokorach, who plays for French side AS Bedarridesa.

Wokorach scored 15 of his team’s 20 points, off a try, two conversions and as many penalties.

Outside centre Thomas Gwotko added Uganda’s second try of the match.

Both sides had numerous chances to kill off the game during the final stages as the kickers Wokorach and Prior for Zimbabwe attempted ambitious kicks from just after the halfway line.

Speaking after the match, Benade said: “Listen, a win is a win. Yes, we certainly would have liked to have performed better, here and there, but, at the end of the day, we did enough to scrap past a very talented and committed team.’’

He added: “This was a team full of big, strong Ugandans, in their capital and so I will certainly take the positives out and work on a couple of things before the next match.

“We knew the winds would have a say and figured that 22 points were a good first half lead. Unfortunately, we still left a couple of try-scoring opportunities during that first half and will certainly try to remedy that for the next match.’’

On Wednesday’s game against Namibia, he said: “Namibia will certainly be a different challenge; it will probably be a set-piece-dominated encounter, and it will be up to us to show up and match them.’’