{"id":71019,"date":"2025-04-29T11:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T09:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=71019"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T09:19:25","slug":"queens-triumphs-over-selborne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=71019","title":{"rendered":"Queen&#8217;s triumphs over Selborne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19526\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/high-angle-view-of-hands-holding-rugby-ball-2021-08-28-17-57-37-utc-scaled-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"hands holding rugby ball on field\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/high-angle-view-of-hands-holding-rugby-ball-2021-08-28-17-57-37-utc-scaled-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/high-angle-view-of-hands-holding-rugby-ball-2021-08-28-17-57-37-utc-scaled-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/high-angle-view-of-hands-holding-rugby-ball-2021-08-28-17-57-37-utc-scaled-1.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Queen\u2019s College<\/strong> was able to transform a titanic first-half battle into a comfortable 40-22 win over their arch-rivals, <strong>Selborne College<\/strong>, in their <strong>King Price Derby Series<\/strong> match,\u00a0 in Komani, on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Rec Ground<\/strong> has often been a graveyard for visiting teams and that proved to be the case in a classic showdown as the home team ran away with the game in the second half after leading just 15-14 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>Queen&#8217;s are at their most dangerous when they start building momentum and begin to run the ball at will, and that approach enabled them to celebrate their 167<sup>th<\/sup> school reunion on a spectacular note.<\/p>\n<p>With <strong>Thina Fenako<\/strong> prominent in the midfield and <strong>Mveli Mqulo<\/strong> always a threat from the back, Fenako and speedy wing <strong>Ncutu Kepe<\/strong> each crossed for a brace of tries.<\/p>\n<p>Selborne delivered a typically gutsy performance and finished off the scoring with a try by prop <strong>Robert John-Osunkwo<\/strong>, but they were unable to plug the gaps in the second half as the Queenians took control with an entertaining display of flowing rugby.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors, to their credit, had the better of the early exchanges and it was only determined defence by Queen\u2019s which kept them from crossing the line.<\/p>\n<p>As they pressed upfield, the home side was rewarded for a committed chase. After kicking ahead, quick work by their backs saw Fenako burst over for his first try.<\/p>\n<p>Selborne still dominated territory, though, and they were finally rewarded when a forward charge saw <strong>Liam Hansen<\/strong> cross the line for their first points.<\/p>\n<p>After conceding a penalty, Selborne went over for a second try, scored by <strong>Connor Maree<\/strong>, to lead for the only time in the match.<\/p>\n<p>Queen&#8217;s had a golden chance to retake the lead, but a great try-saving tackle saw centre <strong>Sbabalwe Magwebu<\/strong> lose the ball over the line.<\/p>\n<p>They, however, got their noses back in front when the lively Mqulo chipped ahead and gathered his kick to score and give the home side a one-point lead at halftime.<\/p>\n<p>After the break, Queen&#8217;s found their rhythm on attack and a superb cross-kick from Mqulo saw Kepe grab the ball out of the air and outpace the Selborne defence for his first try.<\/p>\n<p>The hosts began to build scoreboard pressure with penalties by Mqulo and electrifying bursts by forwards <strong>Jeffrey Niland<\/strong> and <strong>Sambesiwe Vetman<\/strong>, which had the Selbornians scrambling in defence.<\/p>\n<p>That put Queen&#8217;s on the front foot and the result was never in doubt once they had established a telling lead, despite Selborne\u2019s persistence with their third try late in the game.<\/p>\n<p>In Gqeberha, <strong>Grey High<\/strong> registered their biggest win over <strong>Dale College<\/strong> since 2013 when they cruised to a decisive 43-3 victory.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their dominance, it was a game filled with errors, while a number of injuries and cards shown by the referee also disrupted the rhythm of the encounter.<\/p>\n<p>The home team crossed for four tries in the first half to establish their dominance and led 24-3 at the break.<\/p>\n<p>In East London, <strong>Graeme College<\/strong> capitalised on several <strong>Cambridge<\/strong> errors to power their way to a 50-10 win after leading 24-10 at halftime.<\/p>\n<p>The home side was impressive in the early part of the match but Graeme played an intelligent game, setting up inside Cambridge&#8217;s half, and when Cambridge made mistakes in the wrong areas Graeme was able to take charge and run in eight tries.<\/p>\n<p>The match between <strong>Hudson Park<\/strong> and <strong>Marlow Agricultural<\/strong> was cancelled because of a water-logged field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SCORERS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Queen&#8217;s College 40 (15)<\/strong> \u2013 Tries: Thina Fenako (2), Ncutu Kepe (2), Acwenga Saul, Mveli Mqulo; Penalties: Mveli Mqulo (2); Conversions: Mveli Mqulo (2).\u00a0<strong>Selborne College 22 (14)<\/strong> \u2013 Tries: Liam Hansen, Connor Maree, Robert John-Osunkwo; Penalty: Khazimla Qavile; Conversions: Khazimla Qavile (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Queen\u2019s College was able to transform a titanic first-half battle into a comfortable 40-22 win over their arch-rivals, Selborne College, in their King Price Derby Series match,\u00a0 in Komani, on Saturday. The Rec Ground has often been a graveyard for visiting teams and that proved to be the case in a classic showdown as the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":19526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}