Zim coach recognise Vultures improvement

NELSON DIRENG
Correspondent | Tuesday July 28, 2009 00:00

 

Dawson added that with time, the Vultures will be among the best rugby sides in the continent. 'With money being spent on facilities and players, the level of rugby here (in Botswana) promises to be of international standards,' he said. He hailed the Vultures for their fighting spirit at the tournament. He was speaking after Zimbabwe overcame the Vultures 23-3 at the University of Botswana Stadium on Saturday to be crowned the new Six-Nations Rugby champions. He said that Zimbabwe has an advantage over many countries as it has played rugby for a longer period. Besides, Zimbabwe and hosts Botswana, other countries in the Six-Nations tournament that started last Monday were Mauritius, Zambia, Reunion and Madagascar.

Vultures coach, Ivor Greaves said that although they emerged fourth in the tournament, he was not disappointed as his team performed exceptionally well. He said the fact that Botswana was able to produce two men-of-the-match players and man-of-the-series player shows that standards are improving. He said they lost to Zimbabwe because of a few mistakes in the second half. 'During the first half, we stuck to our plans and we were able to capitalise on territory. Things went wrong in the second half, as we did not stick to our game plan, which caused us to struggle a bit. However, the score at the end of the game was not a true reflection of the match,' he said.

Greaves is confident the Vultures would do well in next year's tournament. 'When we come back next year we will be stronger,' he said. Madagascar beat Reunion 36-27 to clinch second position while Mauritius beat Zambia 25-8 to finish third. Reunion and Zambia were fifth and sixth respectively.