Mixed results for Barbarians in Zimbabwe as they beat Lomagundi

BRITISH Barbarians' Under-18 side pulled one back yesterday when they beat Lomagundi College 38-17 in the second match of their week-long rugby tour of Zimbabwe.
Six tries, four of them converted, was what the British side needed top take control of the game while Lomagundi responded with two converted tries and a penalty.
The Barbarians' tries came from Tom Bliss, Mason Caton-Brown and braces from Peter Wild and Timothy Thompson while Kudakwashe Chidemo and Munyaradzi Muguringu scored tries for Lomagundi. After narrowing losing 23-22 in a game they had largely dominated against the Harare Lions at Prince Edward on Saturday, the Independent British Schools got their act together yesterday.
Initially the British Barbarians side were expected to take on a Districts side that was to include players from Peterhouse, Lomagundi, Watershed and other schools in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West.
But things did not go according to plan and the hosts ended up fielding a wholly Lomagundi College side that is set to leave for a week-long tour of South Africa today. And for the hosts, this could have been a good game in preparing for their tour as this was also their first game for this year since the local school rugby programme is off-season.
However, the day belonged to the visitors.
"The game was very physical and the Barbarians played a very good game of rugby but I think for a small school like Lomagundi we played very well given that it was our first game of the season.
"But we need to work on our tackles and we need to work hard on that, we were not throwing the ball as quick as they were," said Lomagundi captain Sean Linfield.
But the tourists deserved the win as they played clean, flowing rugby that penetrated the Lomagundi defence most of the time they reached the danger zone. "This is a good win for us especially that it is our first win and will also act as a moral booster, giving confidence to the side that we are able to win our next game.
"It was generally a very good and tough match. Lomagundi proved a to be a tough side, they started coming back in the second half but we held on," said Barbarians captain Charles Jewers.
By half time the British were leading 19-0. Their first try came as early as the fifth minute through Caton-Brown.
Lomagundi came back a better side after the interval and and five minutes into the second half, they camped in the Barbarians 22 metre box where winger Chidemo planted a try on the left.
This could not have been possible where it not for the exploits of winger Deyon Mupanduki who caused problems for the Barbarians back line.
Flyhalf Linfield - who is also part of the Zimbabwe Under-19 side - made good use of his boot to give Lomagundi the bonus points.
Moments later Lomagundi allowed the Barbarians' Timothy Thompson - who rose from the bench to cause a lot of problems - to penetrate their defence for his side to score their fourth try.
This was his first of two tries and he placed both directly under the posts to make life for his spot takers much easier and capitalise on the bonus points.
And to ease pressure, Lomagundi captain Linfield decided to go for posts after they won a penalty in the Barbarians half and his decision was good as they managed to increase their points' tally.