DEFENDING Lion Lager Northern Rugby League champions Old Georgians stormed into the finals after crashing Old Hararians in a largely one sided match at Old Georgians yesterday.
Lock Fortune Chipendo’s two tries, a try apiece from wing Justin Coles and captain Jacque Leitao, player-coach Grant Mitchell’s four penalties and four conversions were enough to see Old Georgians maintaining their dominance over their rivals in this encounter.
“The Green Machine”, as Old Hararians are best known, replied through a try apiece from Regis Mtangadura and Lungile Tshuma while fly-half Tich Makwanya weighed in with two penalties and two conversions.
Old Georgians are set to meet the winners between Harare Sports Club and Old Miltonians who were scheduled to play under flood lights at Harare Sports club yesterday. The final will be played this weekend.
The home side’s coach Mitchell attributed his team’s victory to hard work on the part of his charges. “This is a fantastic result and I am happy with the level of talent that is coming through. We achieved most of our targets in the match. The fans have also been fantastic.
“We now have to prepare for the final and I am sure we will manage to defend the title,” he said. His opposite number Max Madziva said lack of concentration was their biggest letdown.
“We lost concentration in the match and we never recovered from that early penalty that we gave away in the first five minutes. We never recovered from that and the players had their heads down,” he said.
Yesterday, Old Hararians offered a token of resistance with their forwards being the biggest letdown. The match also saw former Sables scrum half Tich Chidongo making his long awaited return to action, albeit in a losing cause and looked far from being fit.
