Queen's win local derby

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:09

The local Town Derby between Queen’s and Hangklip was played in front of a packed crowd on the Hangklip fields on Saturday afternoon and ended with Queen’s winning 28-19 after leading 14-7 at halftime.

The result probably does justice to the current form of the two sides, both of whom have enjoyed successful seasons. For many of the Hangklip players, this would have been their final appearance for their first team and for those who have represented their team for the past three seasons, probably a very emotional one, and one that they would dearly have loved to win.

Queen’s on the other hand, still have two games remaining, and would be relieved to have bagged a win against the determined Hangklip combination. The game may well have taken a different turn had Queen’s taken their early opportunities, and ought to have scored on three or four occasions within the first ten minutes, had their finishing been up to standard. Two tries in quick succession in the 18th minute by left wing S’bura Sithole and in the 22nd minute by fullback Linton Terblanche, gave one the impression that Queen’s would steamroll their way to a big lead before halftime. 

To their credit, Hangklip dug in their heels and rallied well to respond with a well worked forward try just before half-time. With their tails in the air, they were able to capitalise on a Queen’s fumble from the kick-off at the beginning of the second half. A good gather and pass by fullback T.Venter, enabled centre H.Stapelberg to force his way over and score, to level the score at 14-all.

With the wind in their favour during this half, the Hangklip players enjoyed a fairly substantial territorial advantage but were guilty of kicking away too much good ball, which was well used by Queen’s to launch numerous telling counter attacks, two of which lead to tries, scored by centre Aziyena Mandaba. The quality of play deteriorated during the latter stages of the game with Queen’s guilty of a number of handling errors and poor decisions at the point of contact.  It was one of these poor decisions that allowed Hangklip in for their final try, in the dying moments of the game

Queen’s were unable to exert the same control of the set phases that they did against Selborne last week, which hampered their momentum and continuity.  The final score of 28-19 was probably a fair reflection of a very physical game, played in good spirit.

Queen’s travel to East London on 9 August to take on Cambridge, who has struggled this season and who are not expected to be too big a hurdle for the Queenians.

By Mike Boy