Saturday 13 April 2024 should be remembered as a day when few things went according to expectations in the Eastern Cape.
In Kariega, Muir registered an against the odds win in the new Tinara Cup, by beating Brandwag for the first time in yonkers.
In Qonce, favourites Grey High visiting King for the first time since 2019, came unstuck against hosts Dale at the Graveyard.
In Cradock, coach Lwazi Zangqa’s Hudson Park recorded a very useful far from home win against Marlow.
Some matches did go according to the form charts.
Nico Malan won in Despatch.
Pearson who had been surprised by a Selborne comeback last weekend beat Stirling in Gqeberha.
Dan Pienaar fresh off a major shock against Bergsig last Saturday, bounced back with a convincing win against Otto du Plessis.
In East London, Selborne could have/should have added to the list of upsets as they camped deep inside the Queen’s 22m area of ages but somehow just could not find a way to outdo the visitors defence and score a potential winning try similar to the one they got against Pearson at the death a week before.
The home team did manage to cross the white chalk for what looked like a late winner, only for it to be called back after the match officials adjudged the medics attending to an injured Selborne player on the field, to be in the way of general play. A debate might have suggested that Queen’s would not have prevented that disallowed try under different circumstances.
The end result is an ongoing head-scratch about who the top team in the entire province is in 2024.
RESULTS FOR 13 APRIL 2024
| Dale | 32 | 25 | Grey HS |
| Selborne | 21 | 26 | Queen’s |
| Graeme | 29 | 12 | Cambridge |
| Despatch | 12 | 38 | Nico Malan |
| Daniel Pienaar | 28 | 8 | Otto du Plessis |
| Brandwag (EP) | 22 | 30 | Muir |
| Marlow | 7 | 20 | Hudson Park |
| Pearson | 48 | 0 | Stirling |
| Drostdy | 22 | 5 | Framesby |
Something is going wrong at The Grey. Rector Crawford would be fuming, I guess this is the difference that a Rector makes. One in favor of sports the other not..
Queen’s beating Selborne is not an upset, Selborne last beat Queen’s in EL in 2019 and on paper QC is better.Match stats show QC dominated 2 out of 3 set pieces. Queen’s defended like trojans, converted all their goal attempts and was better on attack too. The try was rightly disallowed as Selborne medics were attending to an injured Selbornian and and was within 10m radius of play( It’s a Boksmart Law that refs must immediately stop play in this scenario) Selborne attacker used the medics to score as he ran around them and there was a hole on D because of the medics,if the medics weren’t there the would’ve never been a hole on the QC D so no debate here, very good fair call and it shows competence by the ref and ARs in charge which is what we want. Welldone to Dale College ! QC vs Dale next week at the Rec will be huge!