\n CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 14, 2021\/APO Group\/ —
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The second round of the Tunisia chapter of the Africa Cup tournament saw <\/em><\/strong>Cote d<\/em><\/strong>\u2019Ivoire play Senegal who were previously defeated by Tunisia. The two teams met under grey autumn skies on 13th October at El Menzeh Rugby ground in Tunisia\u2019s capital city of Tunis.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Senegal proved their physical and technical superiority winning a resounding victory over Cote d\u2019Ivoire 45 – 5. Not only was the first time these two west African teams had played each other, but the first time they have played 15s in a major tournament.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The game got off to a tentative start as each side tried to weigh up each other up but Senegal\u2019s fast winger No. 12, Fatoumata Bah still got off to a flying start tearing up the pitch and through Cote d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s wall like defence passing to her teammate No. 16 Mariem Coumba Barry being brought down and awarded a penalty kick. As Senegal pushed forward Coumba scored a bold try bring the score at half time to 13 to Senegal and Cote d\u2019Ivoire 5.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Cote d\u2019Ivoire suffered a number of serious injuries including two concussions, Senegal scored a brave try but as the ball came down on the line so did Cote d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s No. 11 Absa Cherif causing a long pause in the match as medics attended her, despite this Cote d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s morale did not seem to be dinted but they failed to score for the rest of the match.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Senegal had learned from their mistakes in their match against Tunisia last Saturday building upon their physical prowess in the scrum to develop their passing and learning to use their wingers better.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Just three minutes into the second half Senegal\u2019s No. 14, Amy Nyafouna scored another try, and as Cote d\u2019Ivoire began a long series of substitutions Senegal landed two more tries by No 10 Fatou Diame, followed by No. 12 Fatouma Bah bringing the score up to 33 to 05 before a water break and this time it was Senegal to change players but it was No. 4 Dieynaba Camara who had played the whole match who scored the final two tries for Senegal winning her the title of Woman of the Match.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Senegal have turned out respectably losing their first game against Tunisia but winning one today, Dieynaba said they had learned a lot from playing 15s at this level, \u201cwe knew that we needed to start slowly and not to make the same mistakes we did against Tunisia,\u201d she added \u201cthis match has given us a lot of confidence.\u201d Senegal\u2019s team coach, Simon le Noir said \u201cwe kept to the same game plan for this game, and all the tournaments,\u201d looking to the future of the team\u2019s 15\u2019s game he said \u201cwe want to create our own style of playing 15\u2019s\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Kama Tidiane, Vice President of the Rugby Federation of Cote d\u2019Ivoire is looking ahead to Saturday\u2019s final game in the tournament series against Tunisia, \u201cTunisia is much faster and more technical but with Senegal there\u2019s a lot more physical contact we are taking these lessons forward and we will do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n