Jesus Await Coronation After Thrashing Queens’

The men in red and black triumph over an aggressive Queens’ to extend their winning run

Andy Gill chris blucke Dan Mawwon division 1 rugby downing rugby jamie miller jesus rugby magdalene rugby Mike Stevens Owwie Jones queens' rugby Rugby st johns rugby

Jesus put on a superb display to defeat Queens’ 62-5 on Saturday at Jesus’ pitches. The men in red and black excelled, showing just why they lead Division One with only two matches left to play.

Ahead of next week’s showdown with John’s, who were defeated by Jesus 21-10 in Mich term (the Red Boys first reverse in five years), Jesus were simply imperious. Of particular note was a brilliant 15 minutes of play in the first half, when the Jesus forwards pounded through Queens’ ruck defence with power and precision. Several passages of play brought breathless applause from the crowd, who got their money’s worth – and then some.

How the table stands with the season drawing to a close

Solid structure produced plenty of tries, fullback Chris Blucke finishing with four, while wingers Dan Mawwon and Owwie Jones each finished on the score sheet. Centre Andy Gill, in his first match back from recovering from his knee injury, was outstanding and scored an excellent try, as did Kouj Tambara, veteran Mike Stevens, Fowey “Sunshine” Harvey, and captain Jamie Miller.

Even when Bakkies Botha lookalike Nicolaas Viljoen went off with a yellow card, the Jesus men responded with a classy move to register five points at at the other end. A tough day on the pitch for the men in green and white.

Jesus run in another try

Queens’ were aggressive in the rucks, and looked good whenever they went wide. But, it just wasn’t enough. The Jesus forwards seemed on a different level, constantly off-loading in the tackle and showing great hands to put their speedier men into the clear. In one outrageous move, captain Miller showed Sonny Bill Williams-esque skills to fend off two defenders before offloading around a bemused Queens’ defender to put Blucke over for a score.

Rumour had it that one of the Jesus players, having been subbed off in the sunshine, popped home with his visiting girlfriend to register yet another score. It was hinted that he entered from the wrong side.

Captain Miller was satisfied with the performance. He told The Tab: “We just did everything right today. Queens’ are a very solid outfit, but we had game plan and we executed it perfectly. We were absolutely ruthless.”

The Queens’ pack was unable to cope with the dynamism of their Jesus counterparts

In the closest Division One in years, Queens’ are left in a three way tussle with Magdalene and Downing, assuming that John’s win their games in hand as expected – one of the three will be relegated along with woeful Trinity at the season’s end.