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Young Sables aim to break Namibia jinx

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AFTER coming agonisingly close to beating their Southern African rivals on home soil last year, the Zimbabwe Under-19 rugby team will be eager to finally break the jinx by beating Namibia when the two teams meet in the African Rugby Under-19 Cup final in Windhoek today.

AFTER coming agonisingly close to beating their Southern African rivals on home soil last year, the Zimbabwe Under-19 rugby team will be eager to finally break the jinx by beating Namibia when the two teams meet in the African Rugby Under-19 Cup final in Windhoek today.

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO

 Zimbabwe’s Young Sables are eager to finally break the Namibia jinx by beating them when the two teams meet in the African Rugby Under-19 Cup final in Windhoek today
Zimbabwe’s Young Sables are eager to finally break the Namibia jinx by beating them when the two teams meet in the African Rugby Under-19 Cup final in Windhoek today

The Young Sables have not beaten the Namibians at Under-19 level since their famous 29-17 victory at Prince Edward School to win the 2011 Junior Africa Cup title.

And after suffering a heartbreaking 32-34 extra-time loss to their old nemesis during last year’s final held at St Georges College in the capital, they will be desperate to finally break the jinx today.

Zimbabwe got their campaign underway with a hard-fought 27-26 win over rivals Kenya in their semifinal encounter in Windhoek on Wednesday after tries from flanker Zvikomborero Muzorewa and eighthman Aiden Burnett.

Fly half Tadiwa Malenga scored a penalty and a conversion while fullback Shingirai Katsvere also added four penalties.

But it is the home side who will be more confident after they never went into second gear on their way to a comfortable 64-0 win over Tunisia.

Young Sables coach Bob Mahari told NewsDay Sport that his charges’ hopes of a fifth Junior Africa Cup victory will depend on their ability to reduce mistakes and improve on their discipline and defence against a very speedy Namibian side.

“We made some unnecessary mistakes against Kenya and in the end we left a lot of points on that field through basic handling errors and inaccurate passing, but credit to the boys, they never looked like they would give in, they kept on fighting. Everytime Kenya scored we responded and going forward we would want to take the same attitude into the Namibia game.

“Namibia is going to be a tough opponent; they are very organised, very well structured and they have a lot of speed all over the park. We are going to have to find a way to cut down the space and not allow their speed to take effect,” Mahari said.

The clash between Namibia and Zimbabwe, which also acts as the qualifier for the Junior World Rugby Trophy, will kickoff at 1600 hours and follow the third place playoff between Kenya and Tunisia.