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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DESPITE still being in a precarious position, Zimbabwe’s Sables are not throwing in the towel and still believe they will complete their Rugby Africa Gold Cup campaign with a win and avoid the dreaded relegation.

The Sables put on easily their best show of this tournament, which is also serving as Africa’s qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup but still came second best after losing 58-28 to favourites Namibia before an appreciative crowd at Hartsfield on Saturday.

More importantly for the Sables who are still in danger of being relegated to the less glamorous Silver group, they became the first team in this competition to put Namibia on the back foot and score four tries against the Welwitschias.

That spirited effort also earned the Sables a priceless bonus point that took their tally to three and ensured they did not slump to the bottom of the table which is anchored by Morocco.

Given the massive points gap between Namibia and the Sables which stood at 13 at the start of Saturday’s match, expectations were high that the visitors would overrun their hosts.

Instead, coach Peter De Villiers finally had a glimpse of the kind of Sables he wants to build turning up in the second half and giving Namibia a good run for their money which in the end might not have been good enough for a victory but secured them a deserved bonus point that could yet make the difference in deciding whether they them stay up should they prevail in Kampala.

It is against the background of their performance punctuated by tries each from flank Connor Pritchard, wings Tafadzwa Chitokwindo and Shayne Makombe and prop Farai Mudariki and conversions by the outstanding Brendon Mandivenga and Lenience Tambwera, that left the Sables with a great degree of optimism.

There is a belief among these Sables who were long on potential prior to the start of the competition but have delivered very little on the pitch as their dreams turned into a nightmare that has left them winless after four attempts with just three points to on the board.

They believe that if Saturday’s showing is anything to go by then they might have just turned the corner ahead of their final game against Uganda in Kampala on August 18 which will now decide their fate.

De Villiers’ men returned from Bulawayo yesterday morning and were due to return into camp later in the evening after getting some time off for just the better part of the day.

Captain Denford Mutamangira was generally pleased with what he saw and rallied his troops to keep their heads high as they prepare for their final assignment.

“We just had a chat amongst ourselves soon after the game and said guys heads up, we managed to score 28 points against Namibia… it’s not the result that we wanted but we managed to get a bonus point which could help us to stay in the Gold… we can just go a gear up against Uganda and get a win.

“We owe ourselves a win. We cannot score 20 points against Namibia and then go on and lose, so that really our motivation for the Uganda game,’’ Mutamangira said.

The Sables captain also expressed a huge worry at the rate his troops continue to make mistakes, some of them unforced and which led to the hosts conceding soft tries.

Uganda, just like the four opponents they have faced before will, however not be easy either on their home turf.

The Cranes who until the weekend had also not won, finally got full points when they overcame Tunisia with 67-12 at home, running in nine tries, converted eight and added two penalties against the Carthage Eagles’ two tries and one conversion.

But the Sables are confident the Cranes can be beaten if only they can maintain consistency throughout the 80 minutes and build from their decent showing at Hartsfield.

“Namibia is a very good side but we also showed some signs of brilliance. Whenever we thought we were back in the game, we conceded and it’s something that we need to work on to make sure we don’t concede soft tries.

“But there are a lot of positive that we take from this game. Obviously we want win and scoring 28 points past Namibia shows that this team really shows this team is good enough to beat any beat any team in the Gold Cup and in the next year or two this will be the team to beat,’’ Mutamangira said.

The changes that De Villiers made to the side that had disappointed against Morocco, Kenya and Tunisia also made a positive impact, which gave both the former Springboks coach, his players and the fans some hope especially in their attack but defending remains a huge worry which the Sables have to address as they troop back into camp.

Chitokwindo and Makombe had not featured for the Sables in this campaign despite being the stars of the Sevens side.

De Villiers also attributed his team’s defensive frailties’ to lack of experience especially on occasions when they found themselves a shade too slow to commit into tackles.

“It always come down to that experience and adjustment in defence if you look at how good we were in defence. It’s little things that will come with maturity and the boys will have work on that themselves although we give them the principles and the lines,’’ De Villiers said.

To their credit, the Sables, also won the praise of Namibia coach Phil Davies, who revealed that he had spent the last three and half years working rebuilding his team from the ashes of their disastrous 2015 World Cup in England.

“You have to give credit to Peter and the players today, Zimbabwe was fantastic. They played some good rugby with good offloads which put us under more pressure. What we did is we dug deep and we were very clinical when we had to be – and we deserve the victory,’’ Davies said.