THE Mighty Quins had the luck of the draw when they got Richards Bay at home in the KZNRU’s Junior Murray Cup knockout draw.
This fixture produced cracking matches in both rounds during the league season and the knockout matches proved no different.
The 2nd team got the day underway when they took on the runaway league winners. Having run them close during the league round at home, the home team was quietly optimistic about upsetting the unbeaten team from the bay. Harlequins played into a very strong wind after winning the toss and made a wonderful start to the game. After a couple of cracks at the line, flanker James McFadden made another storming run to cross the tryline as early as the fifth minute to take the score to 7-0.
Quins were the better team during the early stages and with their tails up, they earned another penalty deep in Richards Bay’s 22. Scrumhalf Chris Schulenburg took a quick tap and captain Gavin McArthur crashed over to give the home side a commanding 14-0 lead. Richard Bay were under pressure and started showing why they were runaway league winners as they started playing themselves back into the game. They scored a try of their own after camping on the Quins tryline. They continued pressing for the last 10 minutes of the half but Quins, although scrambling in defense, still managed to keep them out to lead 14-7 at the break.
Determined to not allow the Richards Bay fighting spirit get the upper hand in the match, it was Quins that kept their discipline as the visitors lost their way by focussing on the referee’s decisions and not their own game. A penalty soon after the break took the lead to two scores and when Richards Bay received a yellow card and burly Richard Venter crossed over for the third Quins try, the visitors were under severe pressure to win. Richards Bay threw everything at the home side and their back three were particularly dangerous with ball in hand. Quins showed why theirs is the best defense in the league when a forced a pass found Quins scrumhalf Chris Shulenburg. He ran like the wind to outsprint the cross cover and seal a memorable 31-7 victory.
The Quins first team were hauled in from a winning position by the ‘never-say-die’ Richards Bay team in both their league fixtures and were determined to get the better of the visitors this time round and cause an upset over their more fancied visitors. Like with the second team, Quins played into a strong wind during the first half and made a decent start when they managed to keep the Richards Bay lead to 13-3 at the break with Jean Spies kicking a penalty for Quins on the half hour mark.
With the strong wind at their backs, Harlequins’ Jean Spies kicked another penalty right after the restart and two minutes later, brother Willie Spies crashed over to narrow the gap to two points. Quins had the ascendancy and were enjoying territorial advantage and when winger Jean du Rand went over for his well deserved try, the home supporters sensed an upset.
Quins stalward Riaan Nel made an immediate positive impact when he came on after the break and forced himself through a wall of defenders, Quins were looking good at 23-13 with 20 minutes to go. Richards Bay are not one of the better teams in the league for nothing and they responded well to score under the poles from a quick tap penalty to narrow the gap to 23-20. The play went up and down the field as both teams gave as good as they got. Seven minutes from time, a sense of deja vue struck as Richards Bay scored their third try for the day to take the lead to 27-23. Quins gave it everything they had to regain the lead but it was Richards Bay that sneaked another win over the Quins boys and advance to the semi finals.
The semi final opponents can be one of Hillcrest, South Coast Warriors or Vryheid. The draw will take place at Kings Park this week and Quins 2nds will be hoping for a favourable draw.