Queen's beat Selborne in Queenstown

Match report

In a fiercely contested derby encounter played against Selborne at the Rec on Saturday afternoon, Queen’s emerged as worthy 14-3 winners after leading narrowly by 6-3 at half-time.

Despite the gusty conditions that hampered ball-handling, both sides showed a willingness to run the ball at every opportunity resulting in many exciting passages of play.

The Queen’s backline looked more capable and used their ball to good effect coming close to scoring on numerous occasions in the first twenty minutes.

Queen’s flyhalf, Lionel Cronjé, made good use of the wind to keep his team in the Selborne half of the field. Burly Selborne centre Jeffrey Williams looked menacing, but was well contained by his opposite number Setu Skepe.

Both packs of forwards displayed their capabilities through aggressive rucking and mauling in the machine room. For Queen’s, lock Matthew Lutge and eighthman Mzoy Simani had storming games. Lutge as a No.2 jumper in the line-outs has been unrivalled on the Border this season, while Simani has been in a class of his own in virtually every game he has played.

The narrow 6-3 lead at the interval was misleading as Queen’s had the better of their opponents in the first half and had a number of opportunities to convert their possession into points. Selborne rallied well during the latter stages of this half.

Both teams took to the field with all cylinders firing after the half-time break, but a strong wind made passing and catching difficult, which resulted in less constructive rugby being played. In the 15th minute, the Queen’s scrumhalf Sonwabiso Socikwa, ran 40 metres to score the only try of the game. Mzoy Simani broke blind from a scrum on the halfway line, drew his man and passed to Socikwa who rounded the opposition through some excellent footwork.

For Queen’s their remaining points came from the boot of Lionel Cronjé, while Selborne’s solitary penalty was converted by flyhalf Glen Warner. A good win for a deserving Queen’s team.

Scorers:

For Queen's:
Try: Sonwabiso Socikwa
Pens: Lionel Cronjé 3

For Selborne:
Pen: Glen Warner

By Mike Boy