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Brandon Moyo, [email protected]

A TRICKY encounter lies ahead for the Zimbabwe senior men’s national rugby team as they are set to face arch-rivals Namibia in the semi-finals of the 2024 Rugby Africa Cup which is taking place in Kampala, Uganda.

The Sables secured a hard-fought 20-22 victory over the hosts, Uganda on Saturday and on Wednesday, will face Namibia in what will be a different game altogether. The team’s skipper Hilton Mudariki believes that they now know the areas they need to work on going into Wednesday’s crunch encounter.

Mudariki said they are happy with the quarter-final victory over Uganda but will need to improve against their Southern African opponents. “It is great to get this win, it takes us a step further and we know what we have to fix in the next match,” said Mudariki after the match against Uganda.

Head Coach Piet Benade gave credit to the Cranes for the challenge they gave them on Saturday but believes that they will need to be at their disciplinary best against Namibia on Wednesday.

He believes set pieces will be the order of the day against Namibia. “Namibia’s game will be a lot different, credits to the Ugandans for their very skilled and physical approach but against Namibia it will be a game of set pieces and discipline,” said Benade.

On Saturday, Benade’s men survived a second-half onslaught from the hosts. The Sables went into the half time break with a comfortable 0-22 lead before Uganda came back a different side in the second-half, scoring 20, however, the Sables managed to hold their nerves.

Zimbabwe scored three tries in the first-half. Edward Sigauke, Takudzwa Musingwini and Takudzwa Mashawi were the three players who managed to put the ball across the try-line to give the Sables a comfortable 22 point lead by half-time. Debutant Ian Prior added the extras.

The Sables’ opponents on Wednesday, Namibia walloped Burkina Faso 38-5 in their opening game on Saturday. In other matches played on Saturday, Kenya beat Senegal 36-17 to set up a semi-final date against Algeria who beat Ivory Coast 32-12.

The Rugby Africa Cup serves as the first step towards qualification for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. The Rugby Africa Cup is a continental men’s rugby union tournament organised by Rugby Africa.

The 2024 edition of the tournament features eight nations and these are: Burkina Faso, Namibia, Senegal, Kenya, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Namibia, who beat Kenya in last year’s final, have lifted the Rugby Africa Cup a record nine times, while South Africa have won three titles.

Kenya and Morocco have also lifted the Cup twice, while Uganda and Zimbabwe have each won the Cup once. Zimbabwe’s match against Namibia is scheduled to start at 4pm. – @brandon_malvin.