The Sunday Mail
Zimbabwe . . . . (12) 22
Kenya . . . . . . . (17) 41
THE need to put some muscle into the national team was evident yesterday as Zimbabwe fell to Kenya’s Simbas at Hartsfield.
The Sables were woeful as the visitors emerged 41-22 victors in an international rugby Gold Cup clash.
It was the hosts’ second defeat in row, after last weekend’s 31-26 loss to Namibia. The only difference this time was that Kenya completely bullied the Sables out of the park.
Two tries from Simon Muiafu and Moses Amulasala saw the visitors push the Sables’ forwards over 10m. And other tries from from Davis Chenge, Goerge Nyambuya snd Wilson Opondo were the product of brute force by the physically superior Kenyans.
Winger Darwin Mukidza put an exclamation mark on the Kenyans’ dominance with the boot, scoring two penalties and four conversions.
In reply, Zimbabwe could only muster tries from Connor Pritchard, Hilton Mudariki and Takudzwa Kamandiro. Fly-half Tichafara Makwanya weighed in with two conversions and a penalty.
Sables coach Cyprian Mandenge struggled to explain the horror show.
“I am speechless and no longer know what areas to work on,” he said. “We knew the Kenyans were bigger than us and going to dominate but the boys failed to follow instructions and stick to the game plan.
“We are will no longer winning this year’s Gold Cup as was the plan. We now have to concentrate on the next assignment, in Harare, and stay in the group,” he said.
Oddly, his opposite number Jerome Paarwater was not too impressed with his side’s win.
“This is not how we play; we don’t kick as much but when we saw we were overpowering Zimbabwe we had to adapt. I am glad that we won, but not pleased with the manner we won.
“We now have to concentrate on Namibia, who taught us a valuable lesson when they were caught unprepared by Zimbabwe last week, and hope we can walk away with a win.
“The main goal remains next year’s World Cup qualifiers and a win against Namibia will give us a psychological edge going into 2018,” said the Kenya coach.
