Queen’s denies Selborne’s desperate bid for victory
In a dramatic final passage to their clash in East London on Saturday, Queen’s College held out wave after wave of Selborne College attacks to narrowly emerge as 31-28 victors in their return fixture.
There was little to choose between the sides and this was shown when, immediately after Queen’’ had taken the lead in the 65th minute, the home team fought back with enormous courage to force their way onto the visiting team’s try line.
There, they pressed for the winning try on numerous occasions, only to be continually denied by an extremely committed and stubborn Queen’s defence.
Eventually, Selborne was awarded a penalty in front of the poles with less than a minute remaining. But they weren’t prepared to settle for a draw, and they took the courageous position of going for a quick tap and yet another charge for the line in search of a victory.
Unfortunately for them, the ball was knocked on as they drove over the line and from the ensuing scrum, Queen’s was able to kick the ball dead to secure the victory.
Despite the result, the Selbornians’ bravery in aiming for the win in the final stages should be applauded. It turned out to be one of those matches neither side deserved to lose.
The record, though, will show that Queen’s continued their outstanding season, and while they were often put under pressure by the intensity of the Selborne play, they always found a way to get points on the board.
They trailed 17-18 at halftime but quickly re-established a lead when a brilliant backline move saw them cut through the Selborne defence for Ncutu Kepe to cross the line, only to unselfishly offload the ball to Sbabalwe Magwebu for his second try.
When Selborne hit back through a converted try by Liam Hansen and a penalty by Bungqina Nuku to lead 28-24, Queen’s swung into action from a scrum close to the Selborne line.
Again, their elusive backs were able to work their magic for fullback Mveli Mqolo to score, adding the conversion to make it 31-28 with five minutes left.
Selborne deserves great respect for the way they fought on for victory, even if it eventually was Queen’s who grabbed the bragging rights.
Another terrific duel took place in Qonce, where Graeme College survived a trip to Dale’s “Graveyard” to take a 17-10 win.
The visitors lead 17-7 at the break and, besides being kept scoreless in the second half, they had to withstand a massive Dale onslaught in the final 10 minutes to hold onto their lead.
In a close contest in East London, Port Rex withstood a determined effort from Cambridge High to score a 22-17 win in their annual derby, while Cathcart put up a brave performance against Ooskus Gymnasium, but eventually went down 22-35.
Hudson Park controlled their game against Stirling and ran out comfortable 33-5 winners.
Scorers:
Queen’s 31 (17) – Tries: Sbabalwe Magwebu (2), Ncutu Kepe, Mveli Mqolo. Penalties: Mqolo. Conversions: Mqolo (4). Selborne 28 (18) – Tries: Uviwe Jikwana, Dominic Stegmann, Liam Hansen. Penalties: Bungquina Nuku (3). Conversions: Nuku (2).
Graeme 17 (17) – Tries: Erin Nelson, Elgin Fanton. Penalty: Ethan Bokbaard. Conversions: Bokbaard (2). Dale 10 (7) – Try: Ebenezer Sarpong. Penalty: Soso Dyani. Conversion: Dyani.
