Arusha, 19 August: Tanzania have qualified for the Castel Regional Trophy South Zone B title after beating Rwanda 71-8 in Arusha on Saturday.The Twiggas led 36-0 at hafftime. The victory sets Tanzania up for showdown against Reunion in the semi-finals of the Castel Regional Trophy. The other semi-final will see the two northern zone winners Nigeria and Niger do battle for a place in the finals of the competitions. The dates for these matches are to be confirmed by the Confederation of African Rugby.
Watched by well over two thousand spectators at the Friedkin Recreation Centre in Arusha, Tanzania put on a fantastic display of running rugby scoring 11 tries. This included a hat-trick in 25 minutes by Tanzania number eight Brian Smith. Tanzanian captain Mike Beckner contributed 21 points with 8 conversions and a try. Rwanda’s response was a sole try and a penalty. Second place in the tournament went to Burundi who earlier recorded their first test win beating Rwanda 9-6.
Tanzanian president and coach Tinus Aucamp was delighted with the outcome : ” This is fantastic for rugby in Tanzania. Not only did we win but we also played good rugby and have no shown that we have improved every year since we started playing international rugby.”
The match was also the final outing for fullback Jay Njelege. The former Tanzanian 400 m athelete is going abroad soon and will not be available for Tanzania’s match against Reunion. Njelege was very happy with the way his final match for his country turned out : ” We proved today that we are ready to take the next step up, people in Tanzania are now starting to realize the sport ha scome to stay and we can only grow from here”
The tournament was again very well organised and the Tanzanian Rugby Football Union has set a benchmark for other countries hosting similar events.