THE Zimbabwe national Under 20 (U20) rugby side are hoping to defuse the Namibian bomb squad when the two teams clash in the Barthes Trophy encounter at Harare Sports Club tomorrow afternoon.
The match kicks off at 4pm.
The Junior Sables shot to the top of the four-team table with a 46-21 win over Tunisia in their tournament opener on Sunday at the same venue. Last year's runners up Kenya are in second place after edging former champions Namibia 34-28 in the first match of the tournament.
Zimbabwe U20 rugby head coach Shaun De Souza is making use of the non-competition days to study and analyse Namibia's play against Kenya and mount a winning strategy against them to maintain their hegemony of the log.
"There were some good moments, we stuck to the system, and it paid off. We just need to make sure that we trust the process for the next two games," De Souza said of Sunday's victory against Tunisia.
"They played well; I think Namibia came in with a bomb squad strategy and they started coming back towards the middle of the second half. So, I think it is all tactical. We will analyse their game and see what their strengths and weaknesses are and then we will fine-tune our strategy for the next game."
The Junior Sables compounded Tunisia's misery after the North African side endured travel delays that even resulted in them losing their kit in transit before arriving in Harare.
They had requested that their game against the hosts be postponed to a later date, but the rules handbook could not grant them their request.
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Despite not being perturbed by the result against Zimbabwe, Tunisia head coach Stephane Ferriere was pleased that his charges rose to the occasion.
"Zimbabwe is a very good team and it was very interesting for us because it increased our level and we had to be at a high level to compete against them. It was a big lesson for us and we learnt a lot in this game," Ferriere said.
"My players had about 60 to 65 minutes in them and anything after that was too long for them after the travel delays. The players were very tired, and I was astonished by how the boys played."
The winner of this cup qualifies for the U20 Rugby World Cup set for Scotland in July.
