St Andrew's down Queen's
A brave Queen's outfit was indeed punished by St Andrew's who scored 19 unanswered points in the first half to win 47-17 in the end.
In a topsy-turvy first half, it was the Queen's who started the strongest.
Leroy Kuyler's penalty attempt in the second minute hit the post.The score would have given Queen's an early lead.
Queen's were in it from the get-go applying pressure on what was a dented St Andrew's defence.
The game went the first 10 minutes without a score with both teams equally matched on defence and attack. A scrum infringement gave St Andrew's a penalty in the 11th minute which fullback Brendan Owen missed. And so the score remained at 0-0.
As the 20th minute mark went, St Andrew's were on the onslaught, however their efforts were met by a resolute Queen's wall.
Flanker Ryan Neill was first on the scoreboard for the hosts in the 23rd minute after great sustained attacking play from St Andrew's.
Owen, who had missed a penalty earlier on made no mistake this time, getting the kick over to make it 7-0.
Four minutes later captain Robert Ball then sliced through the middle of the Queen's defence, beating three players to get the home side's second try in the 27th minute. The easy conversion was slotted again by Owen to make it 14-0.
With Queen's trailing, St Andrew's continued to add to Queen's woes as a 29th minute try by Hamish Hughes stretched their lead.
Owen missed the conversion, which was a simple one. 19-0 after 30 minutes and St Andrew's were a different class at this stage of the match.
That was the half-time score as a missed drop-goal from an ambitious Hugo De La Fa Fargue went wide.
Determination was at the heart of a Queen's attack to no avail. However, Queen's winger Jerry Danquah gave Queen's a try in the 38th minute to bring benefit to their efforts. Kulyer missed the conversion.
The floodgates opened as St Andrew's were looking to down Queen's with great breakdown wrestles. Indeed, St Andrew's won the breakdown battle. Converted tries from Hamish Hughes and Ryan Neill saw St Andrew's stretch their lead to an overwhelming 40-5 lead with Hughes rounding up his hat-trick.
Jerry Danquah set up a Queen's attack in the 59th minute that moved swiftly through the hands and Juan du Randt went over for the five pointer.
Kuyler missed the conversion. At that stage, it seemed the match had been done already.
Ball was at the receiving end of a pass that gave him a sniff over the white chalk to stretch the lead beyond reach for Queen's. 47-10 it stood with seven minutes to play.
With one minute to play, Danquah again cooked up another great try to make it 15-47. Kuyler got the conversion and made it 47-17.
The scorers:
For St Andrew's:
Tries: Ryan Neill 2, Robert Ball, Hamish Hughes 3
Cons: Brendan Owen 5
For Queen's:
Try: Jerry Danquah 2, Juan du Randt
Con: Leroy Kuyler
By Kamva Somdyala (Queen's College)
