By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE
Botswana 66 Zambia 14-
THE Zambia 15’s squad missed out on qualification to the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Africa Cup Group 1B following a trouncing suffered at the hands of hosts Botswana.
South African club, Impala emerged overall winners of the week-long CAR Africa Cup Group 1C tournament but it was Mauritius who were, however, crowned winners to clinch qualification.
Impala came in as guests to replace Morocco, who withdrew from the competition.
Zambia, who beat Nigeria in the opening match, failed to shrug off the 57-17 defeat suffered to Mauritius as the Innocent Sakala coached side went on to record a humiliating loss to the host nation to finish in fifth place.
The tournament that came to an end on Saturday night, saw Zambia score two tries through Israel Kalumba and Terry Kaushiku, who also scored a penalty and a conversion, as the rugby national team’s performance at international competitions remains a source of worry.
Impala showed they were in a class of their own, beating national teams like Nigeria 86-10 in their final match to finish top followed by Mauritius, who enjoyed a 134-0 thrashing of Swaziland, in second position.
Botswana finished third as the mountain kingdom of Swaziland was condemned to the bottom in sixth place.
Sakala expressed disappointment with the result but praised his charges for putting up a spirited fight.
“It was not a good result for us but the players put in their best. We have a young team that has a lot of future and I am sure with this experience, the team will rise to the occasion next time,” he said.
Sakala said the competition was not easy as most of the players in the team were travelling outside the country and featuring for the national team for the first time. But he hoped that they had learnt something from the outing.
“All we need to do is to keep the team together and ensure that they work hard, it’s sad we lost but we have a great future” he said.