Ruggers Kick Off With Cameroon

21 June 2011

The Zambia 15s rugby squad kick off their quest for a maiden Africa Cup appearance with a tough Pool C Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) qualifier against a star-studded Cameroon today.

Having only arrived in Yaounde yesterday after their plane had to be diverted to another city, Doula due to bad weather, coach Robertson Kang’ongwe’s men would have little time to acclimatise before facing their dreaded hosts in a mini-league tournament at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium.

Despite delayed arrival at their battlefront, Kang’ongwe still believes his charges would be able to withstand the presure from Phillipe Vila’s squad boasting of 21 professionals, some of whom play in Australia and South Africa.

The Zambian team that left Lusaka in the early hours of Sunday had only yesterday morning to rest before getting back to serious business in probably their only training session.

“We had a tough ride and only arrived here around 05:00 hours this morning. Our plane was diverted into Doula due to bad weather in Yaounde. Despite all this, we’re ready and just wait to see how we can acclimatise here,” Kang’ongwe said from the team’s Djeuvar Hotel.

The Zambian squad need to beat Cameroon in the first semi-final match scheduled to kick-off at 17:00 hours to stand any realistic chance of progressing to the next stage of the Africa Cup qualifiers.

If his charges perform well, the Diggers Rugby club trainer, who is assisted by Noble Chisenga, of Red Arrows, said Zambia would be upgraded to Group B.

With injury knocking out star players including the veteran, Musonda Kaminsa, Isaac Munganga, Jonathan Mambilima and Terry Kayumba, Kang’ongwe would bank on the expertise of Chancy Mulama, who had a stint in England, and experience of Alex Mwila, among others for the result.

Lining up the likes of Beneya Mukwamba, Nigel Chibwe, Patrick Chanda and Michelo Sheleni, who are enjoying good form in the local league, Zambia will be up against the height of the beefy Cameroonians but should count on their speed if they are to win this match.

“We know we shall be disadvantaged by height, but we know we have other strengths to win us the match; yes, it will be tough but we have the players to do the job. The players have been together for a while and know each other very well,” he said.

Vila, whose charges narrowly lost 24-25 to Zambia in a 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifier in Chingola, has Australia-based Louvat Patrick and four players from South Africa’s elite league to lead the Cameroon charge.

Senegal will clash with Botswana- who finished last year’s tournament last after losing the first two games- in the second semi-final of these qualifiers tomorrow.

The winners of the two matches meet in Saturday’s final while the

losers face each other. Pool C winners will seal a berth to the next round of qualifiers next year.

AllAfrica – All the Time