Good win for Queen's
The Queen’s College 1st XV had an excellent 26-8 win over a highly rated and much vaunted Stirling team in East London on Saturday afternoon.
Playing into a strong north easterly wind in the first half, the Queenians made their intentions clear from the outset when their forwards crunched their opposition in the first scrum of the match. Their equally aggressive backs put in a number of big hits early on in the game as well. Much credit must go to the tight five who were prominent throughout the game, with the two locks Samuel Borsah, Bulelani Mbuqe and prop Lazola Gcezengana, carrying the ball well in broken play.
The beefy Stirling forwards were not to be outdone, and also gave a good display of rucking and mauling and were particularly effective when adopting the “pick and drive” in the tight loose, but were well contained by Queen’s as a result of well organized defensive lines. The Stirling No 4 lock J Rohlandt and eighthman S Mtwa, excellent.
With the wind at their backs in the first half, Stirling probably did too much kicking and too little playing while Queen’s on the other hand, ran the ball at every opportunity, enabling them to find their rhythm early on in the game. Flyhalf Lionel Cronje, took the pressure off his team with a number of very well judged clearance kicks into the wind.
Queen’s opened their account in the 14th minute when Cronje’s quick 22 metre tap caught the opposition napping. After running 50 metres, he was able to link inside with Mbuqe who scored an exciting run away try. Stirling responded with a long range drop kick by fullback J Hettema and try in the 30th minute by flank M Raziya, following a good jump by J Rohlandt, enabling him to rob Queen’s of their own crucial line-out ball, 5 metres from the Queen’s try line. This gave Stirling a narrow 8-7 lead at half time.
In the opening stages of the second half, the ever alert Cronje gathered a loose ball on the fringes of a ruck close to the Queen’s try line and put in a 70 metre sprint to score a fine individual try for his team. During the ensuing 10 minutes, Stirling probably enjoyed their best period of play, with their forwards working well as a unit, driving the ball up the midfield in successive rucks.
Queen’s responded with some good interplay between backs and forwards. This led to their next try which came as a result of a fine 30 metre bullocking ran by Sam Borsah, with flank Sibusiso Anthony on hand to provide the continuity. A well timed pass from him resulted in a gem of a try scored by fullback Kholo Ramashala. Both Queen’s loose forwards caught the eye for a change, and what a difference it made.
Their final try was scored by burly prop Gcezengana, in the dying moments, when he barged over, following numerous forwards crashes. The final score 26-8 to Queen’s, who were full value for their victory.
By Mike Boy
