Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14) 32
Namibia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) 10
ONE would have to go back as far as 2001 to trace the last time that Zimbabwe's Sable scored a victory over their regional rugby rivals Namibia.
It was actually on July 7, 2001, when Zimbabwe edged Namibia 27-26 in what was then known as the Confederation of African Rugby Championship fixture at Hartsfield in Bulawayo.
Players who took part in that contest have since retired with the Confederation of African Rugby being rechristened Rugby Africa over the years.
However, coach Piet Benade and his new-look Sables had other ideas in the 2024 Africa Cup semi-final against their nemesis on neutral ground in Uganda.
Tapiwa Mafura, the star of yesterday's show for Zimbabwe, was still a toddler at five years old while two of his other teammates, Edward Sigauke and Bryan Chiang, were not yet born when the Sables last beat Namibia.
Since that game, the Namibians have dominated posting 33 wins over their rivals in the last two decades.
Something had to give in at some stage and that stage arrived yesterday as Zimbabwe put up a near-perfect performance to post their first victory over the Welwitschias in 23 years, at Muteesa II Stadium Wankulukuku in Kampala.
It was a day of upsets in the semi-finals as rank outsiders, Algeria upstaged fancied Kenya 20-12 in an earlier match.
Algeria and Zimbabwe will now square off in Sunday's final at the same venue.
The losers will meet in the third-place play-off match.
The good news for the four sides, however, is that they have all qualified for next year's Africa Cup competition, which will double as the final African Zone qualifier for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Those teams that will reach next year's Africa Cup will then book their tickets to the World Cup. Apart from a few unforced turnovers and ball-handling errors, Zimbabwe hardly put a foot in a rare dominant show over Namibia.
The Sables got on the scoreboard courtesy of tries by winger Edward Sigauke, Brendon Mudzekenyedzi, fullback Tapiwa Mafura, and Takudzwa Musingwini while Ian Prior added three conversions and a penalty.
Musingwini capped off his big day in the office with a penalty kick of his own.
Namibia found the going tough as all they could muster was a try by substitute Alcino Isaacs while skipper Danco Burger chipped in with a penalty and conversion.
The day belonged to Mafura, whose man-of-the-match performance won him many admirers.
His defending was top-notch, the runs were mesmerising and the South Africa-based fullback put the icing on the stellar show by being central in two of Zimbabwe's tries before scoring his own.
Yet everything seemed to go to regular script for Namibia as they raced into the lead after just two minutes, off a penalty converted by Burger.
The Sables, however, had other ideas.
Junior Sables graduate Sigauke got on the end of a cross kick by flyhalf Before recording his second try of the tournament.
Prior made sure to convert the try to give Zimbabwe a 7-3 lead.
From then on, the Sables seized control of proceedings and never took their foot off the pedal.
Mudzekenyedzi added another converted try by the time the break came, Zimbabwe were enjoying a 14-3 lead.
The scores could have been different, but both the duo of Burger and Prior traded failed penalty kicks from promising angles.
The winds probably affected their miscued efforts. Mafura added to Zimbabwe's tally with an instinctive try before having a hand in Zimbabwe's fourth.
The fullback went off on a sublime run from his own 22 before laying the ball to a supporting Musingwini to touch down.
The 26-year-old was the stand-out performer of Zimbabwe's win and even received showers of praise from his skipper Hilton Mudariki.
"He (Mafura) is all class that guy," said Mudariki.
"He is so calm on the ball and brings a lot of calmness and energy to the team.
"We are truly blessed to have him on our team and would never want to play against him," he said.
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Mudariki also spoke on the importance of the win.
"It's truly is a proud moment for us.
"For 23 years we have been trying and in the 11 years I have been playing we were yet to beat Namibia.
"To do it in the manner in which we did it makes me so proud.
"We had a lot of belief coming into this game after having put in all the work and it was just a matter of execution.
"This has been a long build-up for us after having come together last year.
"Everyone put their hand up and we finally got the win," he said.
Namibia captain Burger painted the picture of a dejected man after the game.
"When you don't capitalise on your chances against a side of the quality of Zimbabwe, you are going to get punished," said Burger.
"Credit to Zimbabwe, they played a very good game and we have no option but to take the defeat on the shin and move on to the next game.
"We defeated ourselves and we were our own worst enemies today.
"We were made way too many rookies and basic mistakes and they capitalised on that," he said.
