Barthes Cup: Zimbabwe crowned champions
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Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 17.04.22. | 18:40
Zimbabwe clinched the maiden trophy under the revamped tournament.
In a thrilling cup final that very much lived to expectations, Zimbabwe were crowned the 2022 Barthes Cup champions in a hard fought final against Namibia staged at the Nyayo National Stadium that witness torrential downpour on Sunday 17 April.
The contest was billed to be a tight one with the physicality of both teams being top notch having brushed aside opponents on their way to the final with Namibia slaying Côte d'Ivoire and Kenya while Zimbabwe beat Tunisia and Madagascar on their way to the final.
Namibia were first to put points on the scoreboard as Riaan Grove drilled a penalty from just inside the halfway line for a 3-0 lead.
Zimbabwe responded by levelling proceedings in the closely fought final with the boot of Brendan Marume bringing the scores to three all after Namibia were penalized for being offside.
With wind in their sails, Zimbabwe grabbed the first try of the game when Quirione Majiedt weaved through the Namibia defense and evading a number of tackles to touch down but Marume failed to add the extras.
Namibia and Zimbabwe traded penalties through Geraldo Beukes and Takudzwa Musingwini as Zimbabwe went into the half time break with a 11-6 lead.
After a quiet opening 10 minutes of the second half, Namibia were again first to get points in the half off the boot of Geraldo Beukes to make it a two point game.
Zimbabwe registered their second try of the game after some brilliant interplay on the left flank that curved open the Namibia defense with Panashe Zuze who touched down and added some panache in his celebration but Marume missed the conversion.
The encounter served fans a proper cup tie as they dig deep to score a try and make it a two points game after Beukes missed the conversion.
The scoreboard was kept ticking in the final moments of the game with Marume kicking a penalty in the torrential downpour after pressure from fans to kick the penalty instead of scratching it quickly.
Zimbabwe withered a late storm from Namibia to be crowned the 2022 Barthes Cup champions.
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