Madagascar book Barthes Cup Semis spot after classical display over Zambia
Madagascar booked their place in the semi-finals of the 2022 U20 Barthes Cup when they beat Zambia 26-14 to book a date with Zimbabwe in the semis.
The Madagascans made their intentions clear in the opening five minutes of the game when they scored from a penalty to take a 3-0 lead. They extended their lead three minutes later via a penalty but Zambia responded soon after when left winger Fred Mutonga raced to touch down for the first try of the game.
With a successful conversion, the Zambians gained a point advantage and this gave them a little bit of spark with Mutonga once again showing his skills to score his second try of the day, Mulenga Andersen converting thereafter to take the scores to 6-14 in favour of Zambia. Madagascar sensing danger picked themselves up and would soon get their first try of the day to take scores at 13-14 during halftime.
The pendulum swung in favour of the islanders in the second half as they raced back to the lead via a brilliantly taken try before stretching the lead to 21-14 via a penalty.
The Zambians had no response to the more agile Madagascar side who raced to a 26-14 full-time score.
Madagascar will now meet Zimbabwe in the semi-final on Wednesday, April 13, at 4:30 pm. Zimbabwe beat Tunisia 19-18 in the midday kick off to book their place in the last four.
Earlier on in the day, Namibia and Zimbabwe booked their spots in the last four after beating Ivory Coast and Tunisia respectively. Namibia thrashed the West Africans 62-0 while Zimbabwe got one lucky, beating Tunisia 19-18 to proceed.
