Match Report: Queen’s beats Grey High 29-25

The Queen’s College 1st XV Rugby team dished up one of the surprises of the season with a stunning come from behind victory on the Recreation ground on Saturday afternoon. The underdog status that the “Men in White” had going into the match was part of their motivation to secure the shock 29-25 victory over their much fancied opponents from Port Elizabeth. While most supporters gave Queen’s very little chance going into this encounter, the QC team itself always had the belief that they could stand up to this highly rated Grey, even after the QC teams early season battles.

The Grey High flyhalf Curwin Bosch struggled with the boot missing 17 points on the day unlike the QC flyhalf Leroy Kuyler who had an excellent day with his boot. The Queenians took full advantage of this situation and were able to stay in touch of the Grey team throughout the match. With the score at 25-15 in favour of the Grey side and just 10 minutes left to go in the game, Grey must have felt that they had done enough to secure the win in what had turned out to be a very fast paced and skillful match.

However, Jerry Danquah, the powerful left wing from Queen’s, who for most of the match had very few opportunities, stepped up to the plate and was able to beat a defender to score a try in the left corner after a period of good ball retention by the QC team. The Leroy Kuyler who had an outstanding game, converted from the corner to take the score to 25-22 in favour of Grey. Then 2 minutes later and from a line-out on the half way line, Jerry again received the ball and with numerous defenders between himself and the tryline, he was able to push all defenders to one side and run 50m down field to score a try that many have described as one of the best ever on the Recreation ground. Up stepped Leroy Kuyler to calmly slot the conversion from the touchline to take the score to 29-25 to the home side with 1 minute plus injury time remaining.

In the final 4 minutes of the game, the Grey side threw everything into the attack and the Queenians maintained their composure and shape on defence and were able to defend their line to record, arguably, the upset of the season to date in schoolboy rugby.

It was a well-deserved victory for the ‘Men in White’who are finally starting to play to their potential and who have improved over the last few weeks.