Queens Festival - Day 1
Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:49
Queen's College of Queenstown is celebrating its 150th birthday and has invited friends to the party - about 800 of them.
Rugby is one of the games at the party and we have a report on Day 1, 28 April 2008.
The report is from Queen's.
Queen's vs Durban High School, 33-10
Queen’s continued on their winning streak, with an emphatic 33 -10 victory over Durban High on the Rec on Monday afternoon.
Playing in the main game of the opening day of the festival, Queen’s overcame a nervous start, to confidently beat their fancied opposition. Coaches Clinton Löest and Brent Janse van Rensburg, would have been encouraged by the fact that a number of grey areas in their team, are beginning to be ironed out, with the team playing according to more structure and composure. Furthermore, the attempts to find the right players in key positions, are now reaching finality and the team appears to be gelling into a capable outfit.
Linton Terblanche has settled well into the inside centre birth, while Juan du Preez seems set to make the 8th man position his own. Peter Jacobsen has adapted well to his new role as a flanker and the half back paring of Craig Geyer at scrumhalf, and Athenkosi Gxotiwe at flyhalf, seems to be “clicking”.
Although both of the tries scored by Queen’s in the first half, were somewhat against the run of play, they were well engineered and executed at full pace, which must have taken the wind out of the opposition sails. DHS had enjoyed a fair amount of possession, but were ineffective, playing far too laterally at times. The first half tries were scored by flank Peter Jacobsen, and 8th man Juan du Preez, who had a real stormer of a game.
The second half was characterized by some scintillating passages of play by Queen’s, with good momentum being maintained by no 8 Juan du Preez, prop Allan Dell, lock Mule Borsah and centre Linton Terblanche. Plenty of good “front foot ball” enabled Queen’s to score three tries during this half . Both of the Queen’s wings showed what good finishers they are, by scoring run away tires. Sithole in particular, demonstrated his ability to “round” the opposition defenders through his pace and agility. Du Preez scored his second try when he broke from the base of the scrum to power his way over the try-line.
This comprehensive win for Queen’s will stand them in good stead for their two remaining games against King Edward School (KES) on Wednesday, and the main game against Wynberg on Friday 2 May at 4:00 pm.
By Mike Boy
Other Scores from Day 1:
Pretoria Boys High vs Selborne, 13-7
KES vs St Andrew's, 42-24
Grey (PE) vs Rondebosch, 28-8
SACS vs Hangklip, 55-0
Wynberg vs Dale,
11-10
Judging from the first day of the festival, teams to watch are:
Pretoria Boys – very physical and mobile – a good win over Selborne.
KES – who staged a good fight back to beat St Andrew’s –who lead comfortably at the half way.
Grey PE - who gave a clinical display in their victory over Rondebosch.
SACS – who capitalised on a lack luster performance from local Hangklip, who appeared to “give up” in the second half.
Queen’s – who continue to grow in stature and confidence.
Mike Boy
