The Sunday News
9 March 2013
Zimbabwe Sables Legends……………(7) 24
Springboks Legends………………….. (31) 67
SPRINGBOKS Legends were in rampant form against their Zimbabwe Sables counterparts as they thrashed their hosts in a commemorative match at Hartsfield Rugby Ground in Bulawayo held to mark the ground’s 75th anniversary.
The South Africans, coached by former Springboks coach Ian McIntosh, scored 11 tries, six of them converted with four of those coming from lock Albert van der Berg while the Sables old timers managed three tries, one in the first half and the other two in the second period.
With both sides still sizing each other up in the first few minutes, play was mainly concentrated in the forwards with the backline players seeing little of the ball. It was the Springboks Legends who scored first when former Blue Bulls winger John Mametsa burst through on the right to score under the posts for ex New Zealand flyhalf Carlos Spencer to kick in the conversion.
Five minutes later, Van de Berg had the first                 of his four tries and the conversion from Spencer made it 14-0 to the visitors. Mametsa turned       provider 14 minutes into the encounter when he offloaded to first centre Pieter Muller and again Spencer sailed the conversion kick over the posts to make it 21-0.
Jonathan Artken recorded the fourth try for the Springboks Legends 19 minutes into the match when despite being tackled by a Zimbabwean player he managed to reach out and plant the ball over the line but Spencer’s boots let him down this time around when he missed the conversion kick.
The Zimbabwe Sables Legends got their first points on board 22 minutes into the encounter when Paul Staak set up Adam York who went over near the posts and Lloyd Turner converted.
Mark Wood picked up the fifth five-pointer for the South Africans a minute before the end of the first period with a missed conversion by Spencer seeing the visitors lead 31-7 going into the break.
Two minutes after the break Herno Mentz picked up the sixth try for the tourists and that opened the floodgates with five further tries for the visitors in the second half.
Emanuel Munyoro and Andre Coetzee pulled a try each for Zimbabwe Sables Legends with Munyoro’s try converted by Turner to ensure that the hosts lost by a respectable margin.
A big crowd turned out to watch the legends as they took the fans down memory lane. Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, Sports and Recreation Commission chairman Joseph James and Zimbabwe Rugby Union president John Falkenberg were some of the prominent personalities who watched the match.
Earlier in the day, there were matches between the Milton and Plumtree Under-16s, Milton and Plumtree first teams as well as a match between some Matabeleland and Botswana senior players.