MIDDLEBURG - The Old Mutual Zimbabwe Under-18 rugby team ended their Coca-Cola Craven Week campaign with another heart-breaking defeat after going down 38-25 to rivals Namibia here yesterday.
The Young Sables were their worst enemy again as they struggled to secure their own ball especially at the breakdown and lost a lot of possession at contact.
Zimbabwe’s major weakness during this year’s Craven Week has been a porous defence and against Namibia it was a similar case with a lot of missed tackles.
Namibia started the match strongly scoring a try as early as the fifth minute through their skipper Adriaan Booysen which was converted by fly half PW Steekamp.
They stretched their lead to 12-0 when their bulky hooker Jandre Van Wyk ripped through the Young Sables defence before crossing the chalk for an unconverted try.
Zimbabwe cut the lead to just seven points when centre Mathew Ushewekunze was able to retrieve a grubber kick which was threaded by wing Tarisai Mapfumo.
Ushewokunze shook off a couple of tackles before planting the ball in the corner but Campbell Nyakudya failed to add the extra points with his boot.
Namibia responded just before the break with a converted try by prop Hans Breedt, who caught the Young Sables defence napping to extend the lead.
The Young Sables started the second stanza lively with the industrious flank Brian Mutanga scoring a try which was converted by Nyakudya.
Zimbabwe switched off in defence yet again and the Namibians capitalised through their centre Divan Rossouw, who planted the ball under the sticks.
The Young Sables stayed within touching distance when eighthman Daniel Nyamugama and prop Justin Mendelsohn scored unconverted tries.
Fullback Shaun Synder also weighed in a short range penalty which kept Zimbabwe in reach.
Namibia’s Van Wyk went over the chalk for his second of the game while Herele Otto added another try which put game to bed.
Yesterday’s defeat was the Young Sables third of the tournament after going down to Griquas Country District (26-20) and Eastern province Country District (54-41) earlier last week.