BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
ZIMBABWE WOMEN.. . .(34)72
NAMIBIA WOMEN . . . . . . . .. ..0
THE Lady Sables bounced back from their heavy defeat against South Africa in emphatic style with a dominant win against Namibia in their second Rugby Africa Women’s Cup encounter at the City Park Stadium in Cape Town yesterday.
After being outclassed 108-0 by the Women’s Rugby World Cup-bound Springboks Women last week, the Zimbabwe women’s fifteens rugby side were given little chance against an unknown Namibian side.
But they responded to their doubters in style after putting on an emphatic performance which showed the huge strides women’s rugby has been making over the last couple of years.
Playing an exciting brand of running rugby, the Lady Sables scored six tries in each half with impressive outside centre Chiwoniso Mabika, leading the onslaught with four tries which earned her the player of the match accolade.
Mabika ran in a hat-trick of tries in the first half tries as Lady Sables crossed the whitewash six times in the opening 40 minutes to take a 34 lead in the opening half.
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Zimbabwe was equally dominant in the second half with Delight Mukomondo, Samantha Chirongoma, Caroline Malenga and Robyn Mhembere scoring tries as the Lady Sables dominated the Namibians.
While a key feature of the Lady Sables’ play was their ability to quickly recycle the ball and run it wide with skill and speed, their forwards also dominated their opponents both at the set-piece and on the breakdown.
Meanwhile, the focus will now shift to the Sables, who will intensify their preparations for next month’s Rugby Africa Cup to be held in France with a Test match against Netherlands to be played at the Rugby Stadium Amsterdam on Saturday.
The European side is expected to provide the Sables with an opportunity to test their level of preparedness ahead of the continental competition which is doubling as the qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The Netherlands are ranked 26th in the world while Zimbabwe are down at number 34.
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