Queen’s take Classic Clash in King
The much anticipated FNB Classic Clash rugby match between hosts, Dale College, and Queen’s College was won by the visitors in King Williams Town on Saturday. The match was a typical hard-fought encounter between two heavy weights in the Border region.
First half proved to be a tight affair, with the defences from both teams sound. Dale were the first team to strike through a penalty from their young flyhalf Courtney Winnaar, who had a very good game. It was Winnaar who had broken the Queen’s line twice in the first half but did not have enough support to convert his efforts into points.
Queen’s came close to scoring a few minutes later when the outside centre, Lilitha Jonas, was stopped just short of the line by an excellent tackle from the Dale fullback, Ayavuya Mavuso. A penalty kick from Queen’s flyhalf Simon Bolze, soon after, levelled the scores at 3-3.
Winnaar had a chance to extend Dale’s lead in the 26th minute but his penalty attempt was wide of the posts. A well judged kick into space by Bolze saw the Dale fullback flyhack the ball straight into the hands of a Queenian. The Queenians then kept possession of the ball and went through a number of phases before giving the scoring pass on the short side to left wing Sikhokhele Ngozi. The conversion was missed which left the half-time score at 8-3 in favour of the Queen’s team.
The second half again showed some very good defences from both sides. In the 48th minute Bolze had a chance to extend their lead through a long-range penalty attempt, but the ball fell just short of the poles.
Four minutes later, an error at scrum time by the Dalians inside their 22m area gave Queen’s an opportunity for a quick tap and go. Queen’s kept the ball close through their forwards and eighthman, Sean Nkomo, was able to break the defence next to the ruck and score. Bolze converted to take the score to 15-3 in favour of Queen’s.
Dale then applied a lot of pressure and from a scrum movement, they set the ball up in the mid-field and then reversed play and Sango Mtotywa scored a try in the corner. Winnaar converted to take the score to 15-10.
The Queen’s team then worked their way into the Dale 22m area. Somila Jho then received a yellow card for back chatting the ref. Bolze slotted the penalty to give Queen’s an eight point advantage which meant Dale needed to score twice in order to win the game. The visitors from Queenstown put the game to bed with four minutes remaining when wing, Siphu Zaula scored in the right-hand corner, after Queen’s made good use of the one man advantage. Bolze missed with the conversion to take the final score to 23-10 in favour of Queen’s.
Report from Queen's College
