Kenya …….. (33)45 Zimbabwe…. ..(17)36
Zimbabwe’s hopes of qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup suffered another massive blow following the Sables’ heartbreaking 45-36 defeat to Kenya in the second round of the Rugby Africa Gold Cup at the RFUEA Ground in Nairobi yesterday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO IN NAIROBI, KENYA
The Sables will reflect with some regret on the opportunity squandered after they had shown tremendous character to overturn a 33-12 deficit inside the first 35 minutes to lead 36-33 with less than three minutes left on the clock.
It’s not just that the Sables failed to win with victory in touching distance for a second successive World Cup qualifier after blowing another opportunity during the 23-all draw against Morocco at home on June 16.
It will be the memory of how mightily close they came on both occasions and the “what could have been” of their World Cup destiny had they lasted the distance, which will be hard to take for coach Peter de Villiers and his charges. Yesterday, victory was yet again there for the taking for the Sables before conceding two tries in the last two minutes of the match through replacement loose forward Dalmus Chituyi.
Chituyi’s late show for the Simbas means the Sables’ World Cup destiny is no longer in their hands.
De Villiers’ men will now hope Kenya lose against Namibia and neighbours Uganda while they win their remaining three matches against Tunisia, Namibia and Uganda to have any chance of at least grabbing a ticket to the repachage play-offs reserved for the team, which finishes second in the Gold Cup.
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Kenya, on the other hand, have now won their opening two matches of the competition after beginning the campaign with a narrow 28-24 win over Morocco in Casablanca and remain on course.
While the Sables’ failure to close out the contest cost them dearly, it is also their horror start which ultimately cost them in Nairobi.
A jittery error-strewn start saw the Kenyans’ skipper Davis Chenge scoring a hat-trick of tries in the first 40 minutes to set up what seemed, of course, to be a humiliating defeat for the Sables.
However, after going to the break trailing 33-17, the Sables took the game to the hosts after the restart, scoring two quick tries.
Tighthead prop Farai Mudariki dived over in the corner soon after the restart before the Sables were awarded a penalty try after a high tackle on Matthew McNab from Peter Kilonzo on the try line.
The Kenyan was subsequently sin-binned for the offence and the Sables took advantage of the numerical advantage, with McNab crossing the whitewash for another try, which was converted by flyhalf Lenience Tambwera.
Suddenly victory was within touching distance for the Sables, who had for so long looked dead and buried.
Sadly, the Sables did not take advantage of the late opportunities that came their way and were duly punished right at the death.
Sables captain Denford Mutamangira, who fought hard in his 50th appearance for Zimbabwe, was disappointed with the result.
“I think it was a game of two halves, we struggled in the first half and it’s always hard to play catch-up rugby. However, we managed to come back and lead towards the end and we should have finished them off, we had a couple of opportunities. But credit to them also, they came back stronger and scored the two tries,” Mutamangira said.
The Sables will now head to North Africa for another make-or-break match against Tunisia on Saturday.
