Singapore fall to Kazakhstan in Asian 5 Nations rugby

Story by Les Tan/Red Sports. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports, Vanessa Lim/Red Sports and reader Ben Goh.

Yio Chu Kang Stadium, Saturday, May 9, 2009 – Singapore fell 19-22 to Kazakhstan at home in their second game of the Asian 5 Nations. This was the second loss for the Singapore ruggers after their 0-65 defeat away to Korea.

Singapore almost pulled off an historic first win on the back of some good penalty kicking by John Forrester (#10) who successfully converted four out seven penalties.

A captain Ben Wheeler (#8) try in the first half and a successful conversion by Forrester had tied it up 7-7 in the first half for Singapore after Kazakhstan's Antonov Evgeny (#16) had scored a try early in the game. However, Lefontov Maxim (#15) made good on a penalty attempt to ensure Kazakhstan walked off leading 10-7 at half-time.

Singapore staged a revival in the opening stage of the second half on the back of two successful Forrester penalties. The second gave Singapore a brief 13-10 lead and hopes were raised in the stands.

However, mistakes by Singapore allowed Kazakhstan to reassert their lead when Abdrazakov Ildar broke through and dished off a pass to Cherkashin Denis to score right under the post. A successful conversion gave Kazakhstan a 17-13 lead.

Singapore kept at it and a promising attack by Singapore ended when a stiff Kazakhstan tackle saw James Valintine (#7) cough up the ball 10m from the try line. Moments later, a field goal attempt just at the 22m line by Mohd Ismail (#12) flew wide of the upright.

Another successful penalty by Forrester hauled Singapore to within a point at 16-17 and the crowd got even more excited when Forrester nailed another penalty to give his team a 19-17 lead.

With less than 10 minutes to go, a rearguard action by the Singapore team stopped Kazakhstan three times just at the try line but Guselnikov Oleg (#9) got through on the fourth time of asking.

Maxim failed to convert for Kazakhstan and Singapore now trailed only by three at 19-22 and the game was now set for a grandstand finish.

With Singapore unable to get any joy from their passing game, it fell again on the shoulders of Forrester when they earned another penalty. Opting to kick, Forrester's attempt went awry as his body cramped up on him.

A yellow card for Ildar saw him going to the sin bin to join Zakharov Alexandr (#13) and that meant Kazakhstan were playing with only 13 men for the closing stages of the game. But try as they might, Singapore could not pull off a win.

"We were not clinical enough," said Singapore's Desmond Wee (#11) after the game. "We were not executing the simple, basic stuff. The close result shows we are getting there."

On his own performance, he said: "I could have done better. I should've been on the money."

A banged up John Forrester reflected on his performance.

"Apart from the first two kicks which I missed, I was happy with it. I got into the rhythm. Shame I missed the last one," he said, confirming that his body had cramped up at the point of kicking.

Singapore next play Hong Kong on May 16th, at the Hong Kong Football Club while their next home game on May 23rd will be against the mighty Japanese.

Singapore starting lineup
Forwards
Alex Muir (#1)
Gaspar Tan (#2)
Nick Dance (#3)
Chris Gilbert (#4)
Steve Horsfall (#5)
John Lee (#6)
James Valintine (#7)
Ben Wheeler (#8, captain)

Backs
Andrew Lee (#9)
John Forrester (#10)
Desmond Wee (#11)
Mohd Ismail Bin A Kadir (#12)
Ryan Cumbers (#13)
Muhd Zaki Bin Mahmood (#14)
Gareth Pritchard (#15)

Reserves
Andy Douglas (#16)
Norman Sin (#17)
Andy bennett (#18)
Gabriel Lee (#19)
Tong Chin Hong (#20)
Matt Taloni (#21)
Iain McMullan (#22)

More pictures in the gallery.