By Les Tan/Red Sports. With additional reporting by Adrian Tan
ACS(I) flanker Jason Goh about to go over for the first try of the game. It was converted for a 7-0 ACS(I) lead. (Photo 1 © Rich Seow. Used with permission.)
Republic Polytechnic, Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) successfully defended their title when they beat St Andrew’s Secondary 17-3 in the final of the National C Division Rugby Championship.
For ACS(I), this is their 15th C Division title in the last 16 years. Raffles Institution stopped the ACS(I) winning streak at 13 when they won the title in 2010. For the Saints, they last won the C Division title in 1990.
ACS(I) went ahead in the 15th minute when flanker Jason Goh pierced the Saints defence with a darting run, stretching home to put his team up 5-0. Roy Woo converted neatly to make the score 7-0.
ACS(I) missed a penalty late in the half and the teams went into the half-time break with the score unchanged.
In the second half, ACS(I) went 10-0 ahead in the 40th minute through a penalty by Joshua Goh. Needing to score twice to get anything out of the game, Saints tried to attack at every opportunity but were pegged back by their inability to win their own lineouts.
ACS(I) stole or disrupted many Saints lineouts to disrupt their opponents’ momentum.
Saints won a rare penalty in ACS(I) territory with 15 minutes on the clock, right in front of the posts. Sean Chuan of St Andrew’s converted it, sending the Saints supporters into frenzied delight.
Any hopes of a Saints comeback were dashed when Siew Hao Ren of ACS(I) latched on to a Saints dropped ball after a big hit by teammate Joshua Lim.
Hao Ren, in a one on one situation, palmed off the Saints player before cutting in from the right to score between the posts. An easy conversion by Roy Woo put the score at 17-3 to seal the win.
The title win was the second for ACS(I) this season, after they picked up the National A Division crown earlier this year with a 23-0 win over Raffles Institution.
St Andrew’s won the National B Division title earlier in the year after beating Raffles Institution 15-7 in the final. Raffles had upset ACS(I) 13-12 in the semi-finals.
In the Plate final, St Joseph’s Institution beat Pioneer Secondary 18-5.
National C Division Rugby Championship — full results
National B Division Rugby Championship — full results
National A Division Rugby Championship — full results
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