Graeme (18) Boss In A Tense Battle Against Queens (11)

 

There are not many rugby fixtures tougher than playing Queens College, and Graeme College has had to wait since 1975, to record their 5th win over their much-respected opponents. The schools have more recently re-established the fixture on a permanent basis, and this was the 25th occasion that the teams had met. The Graeme side managed to turn around a hard rugby lesson in Queenstown last year, and maybe have used some of those lessons, in playing some incredible rugby this year.

The Junior School shared some of the spoils with Westering, but the visitors would be very happy with the results on the day. The Queens sides also made most of the day tough for Graeme, with only the u16B side having some form of result. It was only when Graeme’s unbeaten 2nd XV played some incredible rugby again, that Graeme got their first win on the day. In spectacular fashion, the Graeme side won 35-17 in a hard fought fixture.

That just left the 1st XV match to be played and it was a mouth watering contest, that lived up to expectation. Graeme started the match in perfect fashion and was 10-0 up in no time. Queens fought back to trail 10-8, with the match very much in the balance throughout. Graeme scored a second try and converted a penalty to take their tally up to 18. Queens responded with a penalty of their own to take their tally to 11.  It was a day where Graeme never seemed to hit their straps on the attack, as previously shown this year, as they made errors throughout the game. 

However, they more than made up for this in the determination and will to win; especially in defence. This was evident as they defended on their own try line for the last 10 minutes of the match (including a period where they had a man in the sin bin) to see out a deserved victory. Graeme will take a lot of positives from the courage shown by the 1st XV throughout the game. It was a tense battle in Grahamstown as Graeme held on to win the tight contest 18-11.

Gregg van Molendorff