19 Jun 2014

Thenational rugby team, Vultures, will have an opportunity to redeem their pride when they meet Zambia at the ongoing Africa 1C tournament at the National stadium on Saturday, June 21.

The Vultures were on June 18 humiliated by the Impala of South Africa with a 54-9 margin. It was clear from the first whistle that the Impala were not in Botswana for a holiday.

They made their intentions clear from the first whistle when they scored three quick tries in the first 10 minutes. Impala wingers Dumisani Matyeshana and Quinten Mostert scored.

As the Vultures failed now and then to penetrate the Impala defence, the visitors continued to make inroads scoring more tries and frustrating the hosts. 

Vultures could not convert a single try and all their nine points came through penalties, which were easily converted by Hugo Botha. The game went into half time with the Impala leading 21-9. After recess the Impala continued their merciless goring of the Vultures.

For Vultures coach, Ivor Greaves his charges lost the game from the onset when their let their opponents score three ‘soft’ tries.

“We let them set the tone for us, and we failed to come back, still on the second half we were very poor in terms of decision making, and we did not believe in ourselves,” he said.

The coach said it would be an uphill battle to go up the log considering the Vultures occupied third spot after South Africa and Mauritius. However he was optimistic they could rectify their mistakes in the coming game. “I’m confident that we will come [back] stronger on Saturday”. 

Teams captain Eddie Ernest said they made a lot of mistakes, which their opponents capitalised on. He said play wise, the Vultures were not bad but the problem was their defending acumen on the day.

He promised they would bring everything to the next game to redeem their tournament. On the other hand, Impala’s captain Willem Gouws said they did not start the game well, due to hot weather condition.

He said at the beginning of the game Vultures, tried to play defensively, but he used winger Dumisani to get in wide and punish them. In other games played on the same day, Nigeria demolished Swaziland 61-10, while Mauritius walloped Zambia 54-17.

On Saturday Mauritius will battle it out with Swaziland at 1230 hrs, Nigeria will play Impala, and Botswana will take on Zambia at 1630 hrs. ENDS