Queen's draw with Hudson Park
Queen’s College played a gutsy Hudson Park High School this past weekend in a wind-swept East London. The teams were level at the final whistle with 13 points each, but the game could have been very different had either team taken advantage of the conditions.
The visiting team, who were without the inspirational Joshua Stander, were very good in patches. They made most of the play and were relentless in their blend of viscous and skilful attack.
Stand-in captain Kevin Kaba (playing at No.8 this week) was the talisman for his team and was absolutely outstanding, along his deputy JP Smith.
However, Hudson Park had come to play rugby. They were ultra competitive at the collisions and tackled as though their lives depended on it. They were forced to live off scraps, but they made full use of what-ever ball they could get their hands on.
Queen’s College opened the scoring in the 6th minute with a try by Simon Bolze, while Aubrey Ferreira missed the conversion. The Queen’s College goal-kicking left a lot to be desired for the second week running and they will rue the many missed opportunities. The visitors received the ensuing kick-off and immediately returned to continue their assault in the Hudson Park 22m area. They broke the Hudson Park defences on regular occasions and were kept at bay by a fortunate ankle tap, loss of balance or poor passing. Hudson defended manfully and were rewarded when a stray pass fortuitously bounced into the arms of centre, A Dlepu, who ran all of 80 metres to score in the far corner. J Jooste made no mistake with the conversion. Queen’s and Hudson traded penalties to take the half-time score to 10-8 in favour of the hosts.
The second-half started much the same as the first with Queen’s College doing most of the playing. The visitors were now playing with a reasonably strong wind at their backs. They continued their brutal attack, but were once again stopped by some courageous defence. Queen’s College scored early on through a try by Luyolo Gqeba, but the conversion was missed once again.
The game began to open up with Hudson Park stretching their legs. They moved the ball around and tested the Queen’s College defensive pattern. They were rewarded with two further penalties from Jooste, the last of which was scored with just 4 minutes remaining.
Queen’s College will be disappointed with this performance. They lacked the killer instinct and cohesion that saw them beat Selborne, Grey PE and Marlow in consecutive weekends. They will need to up their game this coming weekend when they take on St Andrew's in Grahamstown. St Andrew's have been struggling of late with some surprise losses, but they are due a quality performance and the men from Queenstown will be hoping that it doesn’t come this weekend.
By Hayden Buchholz
