Q’s went hard from the off and were in front thanks to an early Sanger penalty, the lead lasted about as long two eggs when Damo has been challenged to a snorting competition, and against the run of play the Springboks scored a converted try to go 4 points clear.

The new resolve that Cooney is building into the team is starting to show and the attitude of all 15 men was plain as they went straight back up the field to pressure the Boks.

JZ’s try was a great illustration of good back play with both Brendon and Gareth standing up defenders to create space out wide for Hogg and JZ to exploit. The centre pairing both contributed with tough defence against a very impressive Boks 12.
The scrum was one of the big successes for the day and was highlighted no better than when Q’s won a scrum against the head on the Boks 5 metre line and started to drive them backwards. Within sight of the line Parsley managed to betray his footballing talents that he had tried to illustrate with his garish white boots and let the ball squeeze out at the back, Smith reacted to pick and touch down over the line, only to be harshly called as a knock on by the otherwise reasonably efficient referee.

The Boks weren’t allowed out of their 5-metre line though and following a turn over ball Andy Little touch down in the corner. The teams turned around with the score at 16-7 and Quintin looking to put the game to bed.

The second half was nerve-racking affair; Q’s went into the lead with a great try by Phil following strong work by the forwards showing a great line to step inside three men to touch down. This had followed an early converted try by the Boks to get back in the game

The gap between the two sides was always very close, with the Boks impressive though annoying winger scoring to put them within two. They had narrowly missed out before with Sanger slipping a hand under a ball over the line to prevent the try. The missed conversion meant that Q’s had a slender lead and put pressure on the Boks to score.

Having pinned the opposition in their own 22 they cracked under pressure with a loose drop out falling perfectly for Sanger to touch down and seal the win with the conversion added. Any praise that this would have earned him had already been eliminated by a dreadful drop goal attempt!

Pressure summed up the game for Q’s with superb back row keeping pushing the Boks into mistakes and limiting their attacking opportunities, but the ability of the entire team to hold under pressure in a tight game was most pleasing.