High Scoring in Queenstown

The St Andrew’s College Rugby Club enjoyed a very successful weekend away from home against Queen’s College when the 1st XV beat Queen's 38-32.

Some very encouraging performances by all the teams and it was fantastic to see all the teams overcoming the usual excuses of the Queen’s weekend to produce some great rugby on the weekend. Special mention of the U14Bs and Cs who recorded their first wins of the season.

The St Andrew’s College 1st XV took the field on the Recreation Ground in Queenstown ready to repeat the effort of the previous two weeks. Despite some early dominance Queen’s got first points as they kicked a penalty and scored a charge down try. This awoke the College team and after a series of phases Michael Muller crashed over in the corner and Anthony Dakin converted. 8-7 to Queen’s.

Queen’s College produced a good passage of play for a try of their own to extend their lead before Dakin succeeded with a penalty to bring St Andrew’s College back into the match. As St Andrew’s were beginning to dominate the proceedings a bizarre passage of play changed the course of the half. The ball had travelled forward off a Queen’s player and 29 players stopped playing as the lone Queen’s player trotted around under the poles and extended the Queen's lead to 20-10 as the officials ruled that the ball had travelled forward off the players chest and thus not a knock on. St Andrew’s College rallied back with a try of their own through Gordon Everard before Queen’s added one more to their tally to leave the match slightly in Queen's favour at half-time, 25-17.

The second half kicked off at the same furious pace as Queen’s College went straight onto the attack and St Andrew’s had to absorb an enormous amount of pressure. This continued for some 15 minutes as St Andrew’s College repelled Queen’s attack after attack.

When St Andrew’s finally broke out they did so efficiently allowing Anthony Dakin to score a well-worked try and spark some new life into the College team. Not soon after Matt Stopforth went over for another try as St Andrew’s College took the lead for the first time in the game with only 14 minutes remaining.

From here a see-saw battle ensued with both sides looking to dominate territory and possession. Queens eventually creating space for their centre to retake the lead, 32-31, with only six minutes remaining.

St Andrew’s went straight onto the attack and after a good passage of pressure Ross Ferguson forced his way over and Dakin converted to restore the College lead with only three minutes remaining. An error off the kick off meant that College would spend the remaining time defending in their 22, but they did so efficiently, as Stopforth won another lineout and Malcolm Pringle cleared the ball into touch to secure a memorable victory for the St Andrew’s College 1st XV.

Teams

Queen's: 15 Christopher Holies, 14 Aviwe Mancotywa, 13 Yaw Penxe, 12 Juan du Randt, 11 Frank van Heerden, 10 Bulela Sotyelelwa, 9 Raegan Oranje (captain), 8 Mihlali Peter, 7 Luyolo Dapula, 6 Justin Kuyler, 5 Dean Mommsen, 4 Aaron Brody, 3 Simphiwe Matanzima, 2 Gareth Heidtmann, 1 Lukona Masoka

St Andrew's: 15 Murray Long, 14 Grant Dixie, 13 Ross Ferguson, 12 Thomas Lane (captain), 11 Timothy Bloem, 10 Anthony Dakin, 9 Rorke Broad, 8 Goirdon Everard, 7 Seb Mulders, 6 Christopher Sherratt, 5 Daniel Tiffin, 4 Mathew Stopforth, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Mich Müller, 1 Sam Vrhovec

From St Andrew's