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CRUNCH TIME . . . Sables eighth-man Andrew Rose (in scrum cap) makes a try-saving tackle against powerful Russia during their second match of the Nations Cup tournament yesterday. — hkrugby.com

Sports Reporter
HAPLESS, defenceless, toothless, weak! That has been the tale of the Zimbabwe senior rugby team’s Nations Cup tour of duty in Russia. Having lost their opening game against hosts Hong Kong 11-30 in the Cup of Nations, Zimbabwe found themselves in even more trouble from the Russians who thumped them 50-5 yesterday.

Under pressure to impress, the Zimbabwe technical team fielded the trio of Manasah Sita, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo and Riaan O’Neill in their starting line up while Stephan Hunduza was on the bench despite having little time to rest.

The three were part of the Cheetahs side that took part in the Rio 2016 Sevens Olympic Games qualifier in South Africa and were on the plane on Monday evening to Hong Kong for the longer version of the game. Ironically, Zimbabwe were the first ones to touch down through scrumhalf Charles Jiji with just 40 seconds on the clock.

But that was all they could afford as Russia dominated the rest of the game. It was always going to be difficult for the Sables in Hong Kong, as they did not have adequate preparation after the Zimbabwe Rugby Union turned a blind eye on the flagship side who did not go into camp for this tournament.

The local players would just meet for an hour or so twice per week and these training sessions were hit by player apathy claiming they had not been paid their dues from the Africa Cup and World Cup qualifier games against Namibia a few months ago.

The squad only started training together as a unit upon arrival in Hong Kong for a couple of days, while some of the players were in South Africa with the Cheetahs. Flanker Biselele Tshamala was red carded 11 minutes into the game and that further worsened the situation, making the frail Zimbabwe defence exposed as they had to play the remaining 69 minutes with 14 men.

“I would not have stepped on the opposition’s face by mistake, I was going into defence and I stepped on his face by mistake. “It wasn’t intentional, his hand caught my leg and my tailing leg caught his face as I was jumping over him,” said Tshamala who will miss the final game against Portugal on Saturday.

Following a string of unfortunate events, the Sables ended the game with 12 men after injuries.

However, that did little to take anything away from the Bears who displayed total dominance and made light work of the Sables and by the end of the first quarter were 21-5 leaders, adding 12 more points before the break. After 25 minutes had elapsed into the second half, Russia had scored a half century of points, while Zimbabwe still had Jiji’s try to show for their efforts.

It was now all on Zimbabwe to defend in trying to minimise damage, and had they defended just in the manner they did in the last 15 minutes, then it could have been a different story altogether. This was the second time the two sides were meeting in the last 15 months, and the story was no different, the Bears emerging 23-15 winners in the World Cup qualifier play-off in Siberia.

Sables assistant coach Nsikelelo “Sykes” Sibanda reckoned believes Zimbabwe have hit a rebuilding phase where they have just started on their 2019 World Cup preparations.

“It’s best to rebuild. “We played the game with 14 men after Tshamala’s red card; then after injuries we played the last 20 minutes with 12 men,” said Sibanda. But it seemed the remaining 12 men on the field defended better as they did not concede any points in the last phase of the game.

Squads:
Zimbabwe 1-15:
Denford Mutamangira (captain), Nico Nyemba, Farai Mudariki, Sanele Sibanda, Jan Ferreira, Alva Senderai, Biselele Tshamala, Andrew Rose, Charles Jiji, Tich Makwanya, Manasah Sita, Riaan O’Neill, Gerald Sibanda, Tafadzwa Chitokwindo, Lungile Tshuma. Reserves: Brian Makamura, Royal Mwale, Tatenda Murwira, Gabriel Spapati, David Kapuya, Ngoni Chibuwe, Stephan Hunduza, Kazembe, Tafadzwa Mhende.

Russia 1-15:
Alexey Volkov, Yevgeny Matveyev, Azamat Bitiev, Andrey Garbuzov, Denis Antonov, Alexander Khudyakov, Daniel Chegodaev, Viktor Gres, Rushan Yagudin, Sergei Yanyushkin, Andrew Otrokov, Alex Makovetskii, Igor Galinovsky, Nikita Ilienko, Vasily Artemyev (captain). Substitutes: Alexander Ivanov, Sergei Sekisov. Vladimir undercut, Tahir Hajiyev, Anton Sychev, Vasily Dorofeev, Denis Kukishev, Andrew Lizogub.