Brazil fall to Zimbabwe in Stellenbosch Challenge

Brazil and Zimbabwe met for the first time earlier today. The South America vs Africa clash was the opening game of the Stellenbosch Challenge. The South African city is hosting the tournament which also includes Kenya and Namibia.

Brazil had a poor start to the match; indeed, the South American failed to score in the opening half. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, scored 17 points. Such a difference made it highly demanding for Brazil to respond in the second half.

Despite the one-way traffic in the first half it was actually slow-going early on. It took 16 minutes for the first points of the match to be scored. Winger Brandon Mudzenkenyedzi went into the try zone for the opening score. The right winger did so by running down the blindside from a scrum and splitting the defense. Dudlee White-Sharpley added the conversion for the Sables.

White-Sharpley made it 10-0 after 21 minutes. The fly half landed a penalty from half-way. It was part two of a seven minute Zimbabwean onslaught. Part three saw the Sables scoring their second try. The try was a lineout-maul only for N08 Tapiwa Tsomondo to detach and power forward. White-Sharpley added the extras to give the Sables a 17-0 lead.

Down by a large margin at half-time, Brazil went to their bench early. The South Americans did succeed in coming away with the opening points of the second-half. Replacement back Pedro Lopes powered his way over and into the try zone. His 49th minute try was converted by Lucas Tranquez to put Brazil back in the contest.

A 65th minute penalty made it a one-score match. Lucas Tránquez’s mid-range strike assured that the result was up for grabs. However, the Sables hit back immediately. A poor chase saw Zimbabwe countering and running 70 meters to score. Replacement Tonderai Chiwambusta touched down after great work from Mudzenkenyedzi and Hilton Mudariki.

The final minutes saw Brazil on top. Os Tupis crossed for two tries. First, replacement hooker Leonardo de Souza barged over following an attacking maul. The 76th minute score was unconverted.; as such, Zimbabwe retained a nine point lead. Second, a series of phases culminated in de Souza scoring his second.  Tranquez converted to end the match at 24-22.

 

SCORING

ZIMBABWE 24
Tries – B. Mudzenkenyedzi (15′), T. Tsomondo (22′), T. Chiwambusta (63′)
Cons – D. White-Sharpley 3/3 (16′, 23′, 64′)
Pens – D. White-Sharpley 1/1 (20′)
YC – B. Tshamala (67′)

BRAZIL 22
Tries – P. Lopes (47′), L. de Souza 2 (71′, 79′)
Cons – L. Tranquez 2/3 (48′, 80′)
Pens – L. Tranquez 1/1 (61′)
YC – G. Paganini (56′)

 

TEAMS

ZIMBABWE
1 Tyron Fagan (17 Victor Mupunga 59′), 2 Royal Mwale (16 Dean Makoni 59′), 3 Cleopas Kundiona (18 Bornwell Gwinji HT), 4 Sean Beevor, 5 George Saungweme, 6 Godfrey Muzanargwo, 7 Biselele Tshamala (23 Aiden Burnett 78′), 8 Tapiwa Tsomondo (20 Tonderai Chiwambusta 52′, 9 Hilton Mudariki (capt.) (21 Keith Chiwara 71′), 10 Dudlee White-Sharpley, 11 Takudzwa Kumadiro, 12 Takudzwa Chieza (22 Shingirai Katsvere 59′), 13 Riaan O’Neill, 14 Brandon Mudzenkenyedzi, 15 Tapiwa Mafura

Not used: 19 Godwin Mangenje

BRAZIL
1 Caíque Silva (17 Lucas Abud 61′), 2 Endy Willian (16 Leonardo de Souza HT), 3 Henrique Ferreira (18 Matheus Rocha HT), 4 Gabriel Paganini, 5 Kauá Guimarães (19 Devon Müller HT), 6 Adrio de Melo, 7 Matheus Cláudio (capt.) (20 Arthur Bergo 56′), 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth (21 Felipe Cunha 59′), 10 Lucas Spago, 11 Daniel Lima, 12 De Wet van Niekerk (22 Pedro Lopes HT), 13 Gabriel Quirino, 14 Robert Tenório, 15 Lucas Tranquez

Not used: 23 Robson Morais

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Nicardo Pienaar (Namibia)