The four quarterfinals that kicked off the deciding day of the Africa Men’s Sevens over two weekends in Mauritius on Sunday were well-contested and of high quality.
Only three of last weekend’s semi-finalists will again be in action in later today’s last four to decide the finalists. The two losing semi-finalists from last weekend, South Africa and Burkina Faso, played one another and Burkina was knocked out.
Zimbabwe, with the winning try after the hooter in their match against Kenya, will play last weekend’s winner Uganda in the one semifinal while South Africa and Madagascar will face one another in the other.
Perhaps the perception that the rugby on Sunday was a little stop-start can be attributed to tension among the players, but it was nonetheless of a higher quality than last weekend.
The first semifinal between Uganda and the surprise of the quarters, Zimbabwe, is at 12:07 and followed by South Africa vs Madagascar at 12.51, the Bronze and Silver winners respectively last weekend.
Madagascar vs Tunisia
The first match of the day was initially a stop-start affair with many handling and option errors that led to the first half ending scoreless.
The only try by the Makis’ Sedraniaina Rakotomalala was scored more than eight minutes into the game (7-0).
It was a good effort from Tunisia, who finished in a lowly 11th place of the 12 competitors in the first leg of the Africa Men’s Sevens last weekend.
Burkina Faso vs South Africa
Last weekend’s two losing finalists battled in the day’s second match on Sunday.
South Africa would be pleased with their 27-5 win and also that they had picked up no further injuries. They went into the final day with only nine fit players.
Burkina Faso took the early lead at 5-0 but then followed an outstanding try by Rowan Malgas from a penalty after earlier interplay after Sebastian Jobb had taken them close to the line (5-5) after five minutes.
Siyabonga Ndlosi scored after Tunisia lost their own scrum ball, with the halftime score 10-5 to South Africa.
Jobb was again on the scoreboard after kicking ahead and getting a friendly bounce after South Africa had attacked from far out (15-5).
Kyle Cyster was next on the board with Duartte converting (22-5) and Joubert Schoeman completed the scoring after the advantage was played from a Burkina knock-on (27-5)
Kenya vs Zimbabwe
In what probably came as a surprise to many, Kenya was knocked out in the quarters by Zimbabwe.
This result was probably on the cards, seeing that Kenya did not strike rich form yesterday while Zimbabwe played some good rugby.
Favourites Kenya were 7-0 ahead inside two minutes in the quarterfinal with a converted try by Harmony Wamalwa in their match against Zimbabwe. It was a stop-start match, a repeat of some of those before them.
Shingiray Katsvere scored an unconverted try for Zimbabwe after 10 minutes and Keny was still ahead, 7-5.
But then, with everything seemingly over for them at this scoreline, Zimbabwe’s Edward Sigauke scores in the right-hand corner following good passing and straight running for Zim to win 10-7.
Uganda vs Zambia
Uganda opened the scoring in the last quarterfinal through a try by Etwau Denis after just two minutes, but then Alex Aturinda and shortly thereafter Timothy Kisiga kept the scoreboard ticking with the last and really outstanding restart kick after the last try.
The ball landed perfectly for Nobert Okeny to make it 22-0 at the break.
Okeny was on the board again shortly after the restart in the only run-away win of the quarters when he scored a second for his side to lead (27-0).
Zambia were slightly better in the second half, and Uganda also seemed to take their foot off the pedal with only two tries scored after the break.
Last four teams’ semi-finals
The four sides that did not qualify for the quarters – Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, and Mauritius –, played in the two semifinals to find the last four teams’ order on the points list.
The winners will vie for the ninth spot with the losers then playing for the 11th and 12th places.
To Access Images: https://mauritius.rugby/mauritius-sevens-week-2-day-2-in-photo-highlights/
To View Match: https://fb.watch/tanMmQtOLN/?mibextid=v7YzmG
