Quins squander their chances against Hillcrest
The first XV were looking to build on the previous week’s heroics, but were soon found wanting as Hillcrest came out of the starting blocks all guns blazing and raced to a 33 – 0 lead by halftime.
DURBAN Harlequins Rugby took the trip up the highway to take on Hillcrest Villagers last Wednesday evening.
It was a beautiful evening for rugby and the second XV looked to make amends for their close first-round loss to Hillcrest’s seconds.
Hillcrest scored from the kick-off when the ball was not recovered by Quins. Being five-nil down within seconds never got the team down and although under pressure from the home side, they slowly worked their way back into the game. Towards the end of the half, tireless lock Richard Venter forced his way over the tryline for the second week in a row. Unfortunately the kicked was missed and the teams were level. Harlequins again made a mess of the kick-off and Hillcrest made them pay for the second time as they scored immediately to go into halftime with a 12–5 lead.
The second half was another tough one as both teams squandered many scoring chances. It was however the alertness of Quins fullback Wayne Alberts that provided the supporters with some delight as he intercepted and ran 50m to outsprint the cross-cover defence and tie up the game at 12-all. The score set up a beautiful last 25 minutes. The match however turned on its head for the Mighty Quins when replacement winger Lloyd Myeni was yellow carded for a tip-tackle and soon after, flyhalf Jeffrey Ackerman was sent packing for an altercation with a Hillcrest player. The Quins manfully tried their best with 13 players on the field, but the numbers counted as they conceded two tries in the last few minutes to lose another close game 26-12. Man of the match awards went to Richard Venter and Wayne Alberts.
The first XV were looking to build on the previous week’s heroics, but were soon found wanting as Hillcrest came out of the starting blocks with guns blazing, to race to a 33–0 lead by halftime. The second half proved much better as the Quins players applied themselves and increased their intensity to show that they can play decent rugby. It was a better performance that came too late as the game was lost in the first half. Tries by Dylan Mason, Theo Mthembu and Teddy Dzandiwandira brought some respectability to the score line of 52–19. Man of the match awards went to Kuda Kudakwashe and Teddy Dzandiwandira.
The week is a home game against Maritzburg Collegians on Saturday.
