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The Sables

WINDHOEK. — Zimbabwe’s Sables overpowered African champions Kenya 29-14 last night at the Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Rugby Series at the Hage Geingob Stadium to complete a sweet revenge mission after a demoralising loss at the hands of the East Africans in Madagascar in July this year.

The Sables lost their opening match against Namibia 26-35 last week but turned on the show to blow away the Kenyans with a storming first-half show that saw them taking a 26-0 lead in the first half last night.

The Zimbabweans are on a programme that they believe will see them qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the recruitment of Liam Middleton as technical director of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union is meant to provide the technical expertise that will take the Sables to England.

The Sables were left a demoralised lot in July when they were beaten 17-29 by Kenya to lose their Confederation of African Rugby title in Madagascar.

But last night, the Zimbabweans hit back at their opponents and took an early lead through a converted try by explosive winger Tangai Nemadire and when the impressive flyhalf Lenience Tambwera fired home a penalty, they were 10-0 to the good.

Tambwera converted another penalty and when Nemadire touched down to make it 18-0, the Sables were flying.
More was to follow.

Tambwera added another penalty before joining the try scorers’ charts with an unconverted touchdown and the Sables were well and truly in control as they led 26-0 at the break.

The Kenyans came back strongly after the second half and a converted try saw them reduce the deficit to 26-7 before a Tambwera penalty stretched the lead to 29-7 before another converted try by the Kenyans saw them creep to 29-14.
Zimbabwe, though, held on for a great victory.

The match between Zimbabwe and Kenya had generated a lot of interest in Namibia after the Sables were given a lot of credit for the way they battled against the Namibians and the sub-plot of the score that they wanted to settle against the Kenyans.

Kenya has traditionally been known for its Sevens rugby and its fleet-footed backline, but with former Western Province loose forward Jerome Paarwater now their head coach, they have strengthened their pack considerably.

At the CAR Cup finals in July, they overpowered Uganda 52-11 before beating Zimbabwe in the final.
Paarwater recalled Duncan Ekasi, Lawrence Buyachi and Moses Amusala while handing debuts to Max Adaka and Charles Omondi as he named the Kenya squad over the weekend.

Missing from the squad were twins James and Joseph Kang’ethe, Ronnie Mwenesi and Vincent Mose due to school and work related commitments. He has retained 19 of the squad who clinched the African title in Madagascar in July this year.

“We’ve obviously made some changes, the twins are unavailable due to school engagements in Australia, that gives an opportunity for the likes of Curtis Lilako, Dennis Karani and Sammy Warui to get more game time,” Paarwater said.

Kenya Rugby Union chairman Mwangi Muthee said, “This is a very important tournament for the team ahead of its preparations for the Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifiers in Madagascar next June. We thank Western Province for the secondment of Jerome Paarwater as Head Coach.”

The president of the Namibia Rugby Union Bradley Basson welcomed Kenya and Zimbabwe to Namibia at a function on Sunday evening where he underlined the unity and brotherhood between the nations.

“We are here as Africa’s best rugby nations, apart from the Springboks, and we will be fighting it out for one spot at the Rugby World Cup next year. Although we are from different countries, we are so much alike in that we share the game that we all love so much. This concept of brotherhood brings us together and when we run onto the field it makes our nations proud,” he said.

Basson said Namibian rugby had managed to survive despite financial obstacles and called on the other nations to grow the brand of rugby.

“We share the same challenges and like Kenya and Zimbabwe we don’t have financial resources to look after our most valuable assets – the players. This year Namibia played rugby without a title sponsor and it shows the commitment and dedication of our players,” he said.
“If you have had a similar experience, don’t give up. We all have to build the brand of rugby.” — Sports Reporter/Namibian.