Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18…………. (7) 17

Leopards Under-18 ………………………...(20) 72

Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 ………… (0) 14

Golden Lions XV …………………………...(36) 62

THE Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 rugby teams made a disastrous start to their campaign at the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks with both of them beaten by South Africa opposition at St Stithians College on Tuesday.

Wing Tafadziswa Bunu was sent off 11 minutes into the second half as Scott Gray’s Craven Week side conceded 11 tries, seven conversions and a penalty goal to lose to the Leopards. The Jack Charsley captained Junior Sables managed three tries but despite being brilliant at lineout time, they were exposed defensively, a situation compounded by Bunu’s sending off.

Leopards had their first try scored by man of the match, flyhalf Hanru van Rooyen after a lovely exchange of passes on the left side of the Zimbabwean defence with the scorer going to miss the conversion kick. The second try for the Leopards was delivered by first centre Lohann Jahns with the offload coming from centre partner Mitchelle van der Merwe, Van Rooyen booting in the conversion to give his side 12-0 in front.

Flyhalf Tinashe Hombiro missed an opportunity to get some points for the Zimbabwean lads when he sent his penalty goal attempt wide off the posts. Tapiwa Marima scored Zimbabwe’s first try with the ball shipped wide with the wing going, Hombiro with the two extra points from a successful conversion.

Van Rooyen booted in a penalty goal to give his side some breathing space on the scoreboard. The number 10 soon had his second try, the third for his team when he sprinted from halfway to score but missed the conversion.

Bunu was shown his first yellow card for a high tackle and sent to spend 10 minutes in the sin bin. Leopards made that numerical superiority count with eighth man Ruwald van der Merwe powering his way over the line over the line after the restart, Van Rooyen with the extra two points.

Van der Merwe outpaced the Zimbabwean defence for his side’s fifth try, the conversion successful from Van Rooyen. Zimbabwe conceded their sixth try, a soft five points given away to Van Rooyen who went on to boot the conversion in between the posts for a 41-7 lead for Leopards.

Bunu had looked jittery from the start of the match and he was sent off in the 46th minute, 10 minutes after returning from the sin bin, the second yellow card for a spear tackle.

Tight head prop Arno Gustafson delivered try number seven for the Leopards whose conversion was missed by Van Rooyen. Hooker Dirk-Hendrik Kotze also got in on the try scoring act with the eighth five-pointer for the boys from the North West, Van Rooyen successful with the conversion.

Fullback Bertu Jones sprinted from his own half for his side’s ninth try of the match, Van Rooyen chipping in with the two extra points.

First centre Mazvita Nyamarebvu gave Zimbabwe their second try of the match with Hombiro unsuccessful with the conversion. Second centre Tadiwa Muchemwa chipped in with the third try of the match for the Junior Sables when he powered his way over the line but the conversion was missed by Dillon Brain.

Bertu notched up his hat trick of tries, going over under the posts, Van Rooyen with yet another successful conversion. Flank Zimasa Nokama scored the final try for Leopards who even had the temerity to give the conversion to prop Gustafson whose kick was unsuccessful.

Earlier on in the day, the Basil Dingiswayo coached Academy Week side got a harsh welcome from the Golden Lions XV in their debut at the tournament. The Golden Lions XV scored 10 tries and six conversions while Zimbabwe managed two converted tries.

Second centre Edwin Mutseyekwa and wing Siampunga Sindaza scored the two tries for Zimbabwe with flyhalf Taine Roelosfz kicking in the conversions.

Charsley felt that the first few tries they let in led to the players losing confidence, something which also happened towards the end of the match.

“After the first coupe f tries people put their heads down and that’s where it all went down. After the second half when we scored our tries that’s when the boys picked it up a bit more. Once they saw what the score was towards the end and after the red card the boys put their heads back down,’’ said Charsley.

Asked if the red card played a part in deciding the result, Charsley put the defeat down to missed tackles with the team going to have a look at the footage from the encounter in order to work on the areas where they fell short. 

“There a few missed tackles which we can also blame people for I think the red card did have a bit of an impact. We will watch the review of the game and when we can make it clear to people what their mistakes are I think that will help going into our next game,’’ he said.

On the positives they can take from the match, Charsley said he was really impressed with the physicality displayed by the team. 

“We really worked on our defence which was good and we upped the physicality, I didn’t think the boys really expected it to be this physical so that’s a positive that came out of it,’’ said Charsley.

The two Zimbabwean teams are in action again on Thursday with their opponents to be decided on Tuesday evening.

Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 Craven Week against Leopards

Rivaldo Kwidini, Tadiwanashe Mabhudhu, Brendan Mudzikitiri, Dexter Trail, Davin King, Jack Charsley (captain), Ryan Smith, Ronald Mirimi, Dillon Brain, Tinashe Hombiro, Tafadziswa Bunu, Mazvitaishe Nyamarebvu(vice-captain), Tadiwa Muchemwa, Lameck Vheriwa, Tapiwa Marimira

Replacements: Marcus Nicole, Kudakwashe Mashonga, Cody Rensburg, Prince Mupfurutsa, Simbarashe Chingono, Michael Mhute, Lameck Vheriwa, Leroy Kagodora, Lebukgang Mokuele

Old Mutual Zimbabwe Academy Week against Golden Lions XV

Adrian Zivanai, Takudzwa Mutukumira, Kundai Mashingaidze, Innocent Mpariwa, Thokozani Mrewa, Matthew Owuru, Sean Mupanemunda (captain), Louis Du Plessis, Nigel Tinarwo, Taine Roelofsz, Allan Mawande, Sean Maenzanise (vice-captain), Edwin Mutseyekwa, Siampunga Sindaza , Anesu Haki

Replacements; Brendon Sibanda, Brian Chakoma, Takunda Magondo, Alce Melo, James Owuru, Joshua Allardice, Takudzwa Siyawamwaya, Takunda Machaya

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