Tunisia has won a decisive victory after beating Senegal 14-3 in the first match of the three games in Tunis in the ongoing Rugby Africa Cup Tournament series.
The game was played at the El Menzeh’s sports complex in Tunisia’s capital city of Tunis on Saturday 9th.
After scoring their first try Tunisia had to defend hard against Senegal’s series of powerful attacks. Tunisia leveraged their tight defense against Senegal’s team led by Coumba Nidaye who pushed forward with sheer force of strength in attempt to to take control of the game.
Tunisia marked their goal in Senegal’s face in the first half maintaining their 5-0 lead.
The second half saw both sides play a much faster game, as both teams found a new confidence boosting their energy.
Senegal continued their tactic of playing an attacking game to push through Tunisia’s defenders, but still they could not counter Tunisia’s highly technical defense and fearless Lamia Mlawah, who brought down Senegal’s No. 4 the mighty Yvonne Mendy.
Tunisia’s No. 14 Emna ben Arous, and her immense turns of speed brought the ball up the field close to the Senegal’s line only to be turned back by a strengthened Senegalese defence.
The last twenty minutes saw injuries on both sides as the two teams settled their differences with a series of penalties. One penalty kick was awarded to Senegal but Tunisia’s No.10 Ameni ben Salem who scored one try in the first half and three penalties overall that made her woman of the match.
Commenting on the game results, Tunisia’s team manager Abdelaziz Chaouachi said, “It’s a good result, scoring so early, seemed to make a big impact on the Senegalese team psychologically.” He added, both teams are equally strong physically but with different strengths, Senegal is stronger in the scrums and Tunisia play a more technical and faster game, which is a result from their strong showing in the women’s 7s which is a very fast game.”