Queen’s clinch thrilling derby
Queen’s College put on what was arguably one of their finest performances of the season to beat a gallant Selborne College, in East London this past weekend. The final score was 26-17.
The visitors were simply outstanding on the day. They adapted their game during the 70 minutes to suit the playing conditions. The other feature of their win was the way they blended aggressive defence with subtle attack. It really was a joy to watch.
Take nothing away from Selborne, they came to play and were competitive throughout. In fact, they had two opportunities to take the lead in the final 10 minutes, with the score at 19-17 in favour of the visiting team, but they missed both kicks.
Queen’s College No.8, Kevin Kaba, opened the scoring in the second minute with a converted try. Selborne were quick to answer and scored an unconverted try just six minutes later.
It was an enthralling spectacle as both teams played contrasting games - Selborne with their usual forward-orientated play and adding the huge “Garryowen” and Queen’s College spreading the ball at every opportunity. One thing was certain; there would be some very sore bodies on the Sunday.
Joshua Stander was given two opportunities to stretch his team’s lead, but missed both opportunities before succeeding with a third and fourth attempt in the 16th and 20th minutes. This took the score to 13-5 and many felt that the visitors were firmly on top. Selborne missed another opportunity to close the gap minutes later by way of a penalty, only for Stander to add his third penalty of the game to widen the gap even more.
Selborne scored a converted try on the stroke of halftime, to the delight of the crowd. This was obviously the worst result for the visitors given that they were on top for most of the half and the try would have given their opponents a glimmer of hope.
It did just that. Selborne came out firing in the second half to score another unconverted try and take the score 19-17 with a full 30 minutes still to play. The home team would have felt that they were on top at this point, particularly when a Queen’s College player received a yellow card for dangerous play. The men from Queenstown held their nerve during a tense final 20 minutes and were rewarded with a converted try by Dylan Gibbens in the 64th minutes.
Queen’s College will have a tricky assignment against Hangklip Hoërskool this weekend at the Hangklip fields. The rivalry between the two schools is always tense on the sports fields, but enjoyable off it and this weekend should be no different. It is the one fixture in the season where the form book means very little and the hosts will be keen to put one over their friends from down the road! The match kicks-off at 15.00 on Saturday.
By Hayden Buchholz