The Sunday Mail
South Africa Under-20………………………………..(34) 67
Zimbabwe Under-20 Women……………………. (10) 10
THE Zimbabwe Under-20 rugby women’s team yesterday put up an added impetus to their resistance as they tried to salvage some pride in their 67-10 loss to South Africa in the second and final bilateral series match at Prince Edward.
The win means South Africa win the series 2-0 after having enjoyed a flawless 43-00 victory in the first match on Wednesday.
Once again the visitors opened with an early try and were relentless in their resolve; but this time Zimbabwe put up a better fight, showing signs of brilliance with ball carries and an aggressive defence.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwe’s structures did not hold against South Africa despite scoring their only try in this series a few minutes before the half time break which was 34-10.
The second half was a freefall of tries for the visitors as South Africa were clinical with their structures.
Victorious Captain Tyler-Jane Coleman was ecstatic as her team proved their worth against a credible opponent.
“We all enjoyed it, we fixed all the stuff we needed to work on from the first match and we said today we are giving it our all and putting our bodies on the line.
“Yes Zimbabwe came to us a bit more physical but we came back 100% stronger,” said Tyler-Jane Coleman.
Zimbabwean head coach, Nsikelelo Sibanda lamented his charges’ costly mistakes that culminated to a second defeat.
“I think we made a lot of errors and they scored off our errors.
“Each time you make an error at this level, you get punished and they did just that,” said Sibanda.
This bilateral series is a first for both nations who have not had bilateral series for women at Under-20 level.
Both sides look forward to more game time and more competitive fixtures in the near future.
“Next for us is to carry on training. We have an inter-provincial league and we have a tournament coming up for the senior team.
“Some of us will be selected to come up and play there, so training is key after this,” said Tyler-Jane Coleman.
As for Zimbabwe; “The plan is to promote some of these girls to the seniors. We are preparing towards the world cup, so the next thing is for the girls to travel across to South Africa and play against this team again,” said Sibanda.
