ZIMBABWE won the Africa Rugby u20 Barthes Cup for the first time in 11 years after beating Namibia 19-14 in Sunday’s final at the Nyayo International Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya.
In a close contest that could have gone either way, Zimbabwe led 11-6 at half time, while they scored two tries to one, but Namibia will rue several missed scoring opportunities which could have won them the match.
They won several penalties in kickable positions, but instead of going for the posts they opted to gain territory, but the opportunities were wasted with misplaced kicks that went over the dead-ball area.
Zimbabwe did the early attacking, but Namibian captain Oela Blaauw opened the scoring with an early penalty.
Zimbabwe continued to attack but Namibia’s defence stood firm, with some big hits in the process, before Zimbabwean captain Takudzwa Musingwini levelled the score with a penalty on 11 minutes.
Musingwini and Blaauw both missed further penalty attempts, but Zimbabwe took the lead after a great try by their left winger Liberty Sibanda on 24 minutes.
Fullback Brendan Marume cut into the backline, breaking through a tackle and offloading to Sibanda who weaved in and out, before touching down for an unconverted try to put them 8-3 ahead.
Namibian fullback Geraldo Beukes reduced the deficit with a penalty, but another Musingwini penalty put Zimbabwe 11-6 ahead at the halftime break.
Another Beukes penalty early in the second half reduced Namibia’s deficit to 11-9, but with the rain teeming down, Namibia started to make too many unforced errors.
Substitute back Adriaan Steenkamp launched a fine counterattack, but the ball was knocked on and Zimbabwe immediately capitalised, turning defence into attack, and after several hand to hand passes, scrumhalf Panashe Zuze rounded off a sweeping try to put Zimbabwe 16-9 ahead.
With a quarter of the game remaining, Namibia won a kickable penalty but Beukes went for touch, and lost the advantage as he kicked over the dead-ball area.
Namibia, however, soon opened their try scoring account when prop Bernd Beddies barged over from a maul, and although Beukes’ conversion drifted wide they were now just two points behind.
Another Marume penalty, however, put Zimbabwe 19-14 ahead and although Namibia pressed hard in the final minutes they could not break through.
Eighthman Riaan Grove and centre Patrick Karstens put in strong runs, while Blaauw dived over in the corner, just to be forced into touch.
Namibia continued to attack, but some attacks broke down due to knock-ons, and with a minute to go, Blaauw wasted another penalty advantage when his touch-kick drifted over the dead-ball line.
It was a frustrating end to a match that Namibia could have won, and afterwards coach Chrysander Botha agreed that they did not make use of their opportunities.
“It’s obviously not how we wanted to end the tournament, but it’s finals rugby and the one who takes the opportunities at the end of the day wins the game. Zimbabwe took their opportunities, they took the points that were on offer, and we made individual mistakes, so it’s a learning curve for my boys to go home, have a look at themselves and find out if they still want to do this and if they are up to this,” he said.
Botha, however, did not want to be too hard on his players.
“Unfortunately the players on the field make the calls, but we need to back them, they are still young boys, so let’s not be too harsh on them. Like I said, it’s a learning curve for them and moving on to the future, these boys are going to play for Namibia one day, so we need to groom and guide them,” he said.
“We need to identify a core group that will still be playing next year and we’ll come back to do our best and to represent Namibia with pride,” he added.