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Mbachi Mutukula-Maregere Sports Reporter
OLD Hararains assistant coach Derek Chiwara said he was impressed by his charges’ fighting spirit despite going down 20-35 against a well-drilled Harare Sports Club in a Northern Rugby League match at the weekend.

The visiting side, Old Hararians, were starved of ball possession as the hosts shut them down from all angles, taking advantage over the visitors.

Sports Club, who had a huge crowd of supporters on their home ground, were unstoppable and dominated throughout the match.

Old Hararians were the first to touch down with a brilliant try from Tatenda Chowe but Sportivo did not give them any chance of leading the match and they quickly capitalised. They did not delay in topping the scoreboard and they quickly touched down through Kudzai Mashawi.

By half-time the Sportivo were leading 20-10 and they dominated the entire first half as they pressurised the hosts in their own half. In the second half, Old Hararians tried to come back with a hostile spirit through Courtney Mwatsiya, who scored a try, but they missed too many tackles and in the end were not good enough to overpower the hosts.

Tries started coming one after the other from Sportivo and it was no other than their prop Denford Mutamangira to lead them in this assault in the second half as Rangarirai Zimbowa beautifully converted.

McLean Muhambi and Takudzwa Francisco also contributed to Spotivo’s victory by scoring tries. Old Hararians’ assistant coach Chiwara said after the match: “Our boys played well today, there were certain areas which caused us to consider unnecessary tries, the blunder that was made by the backline made us to lose ball possession.

“We also had a situation where we failed to defend around the breakdown areas and that is what affected our way of play at the end of the day. Our set-pieces were very good, winning our line-outs, our scrums and in the second half our way of play was better although the best team had to win and I say well done to Sports Club,” he said.