Zimbabwe’s Tinotenda Mavesere and Namibia’s Prince Gaoseb have recounted their favourite moments from the ongoing 2025 men’s Rugby Africa Cup tournament.
The two loose-forwards, who both wear jersey number six, will battle against each other when their countries meet in the Final on Saturday evening.
• 2025 men’s Rugby Africa Cup Final:
• Zimbabwe vs Namibia
• Kickoff: 4 p.m. EAT
Gaoseb, who is also the Welwitschias’ captain, said he was left in awe by Andre van der Berg’s try in the quarterfinal match against Senegal.
The fifty-second minute score started with a counterattack from deep inside Namibia territory.
Fullback Cliven Loubser collected a grubber kick on one touchline and sent a long inward pass to Jurgen Meyer who carried outside the 22m territory. Meyer offloaded to Le Roux Malan whose lung-bursting run moved Namibia past the Senegal 10m line. There was an exchange of loose passes and offloads when Malan was tackled but the former maintained possession.
Then Haitembu Shikufa carried for one phase just behind the 22m line as Danco Burger slotted into the first receiver position.
Andrew Kearns picked from the ruck and passed to Burger who tossed a fancy no-look pass to van der Berg who, with a sharp angled run, broke two double tackle attempts and back-trotted safely under the poles.
That first try of the second half is what set Namibia to a 55-17 victory.
For Mavesere, his favourite moment was the try-saving tackles by himself and teammate Keegan Joubert in the semifinal match against Kenya.
It was in the seventy-ninth minute as the Sables nearly gifted Kenya a game-changing score.
Zimbabwe had a scrum a few metres outside their 22m territory. Scrumhalf Joubert feeds and finds Brandon Mudzekenyedzi on the blind side. Mudzekenyedzi’s cutout pass, in his attempt to find Edward Sigauke at the wing, is intercepted by Derrick Ashihundu who sprints for the corner immediately.
Joubert tracks him and makes the tackle on the 5m line but Ashihundu’s momentum propels him toward the try line. That’s when Mavesere comes in for a last-ditch tackle. The two tackles by Joubert and Mavesere denied Kenya a clear try as they made Ashihundu put a foot into touch before grounding the ball.
Despite Zimbabwe eventually conceding from the following lineout, they emerged victorious in that match by 29-23.
These moments are excerpts from an exclusive interview Mavesere and Gaoseb held on Thursday morning with NBS Sport at the Speke Resort Hotel in Munyonyo. The interview will air on NBS Sport in the lead-up to the Rugby Africa Cup final.
