Gabriel Lee of Singapore evades a tackle by his Indian opponent. Singapore brushed aside India 67–8 to advance to the Division II final against arch-rivals Malaysia. (Photo courtesy of Info Elite Step Asia)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 – Singapore beat India 67–8 in the Division II semi-final of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations. They will meet arch-rivals Malaysia in the final after Malaysia beat Iran 48–10 in the other semi-final.
India and Iran will now face off in the Division II 3rd/4th place match to decide who is relegated to Division III in 2014. The relegation match will be played on Friday, June 7, at Petaling Jaya Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore, who were demoted to Division II last year, played to its traditional strength in the forward pack with three Singapore forwards scoring braces in the victory – No 8 Peter McFeely, who opened the scoring in the 15th minute; flanker Matthew Roberts, who scored twice in the first half; and lock Murray Wyllie. Openside flanker Simon Etheredge, suiting up in replacement of team captain Daniel Marc Chow who was ill, added a try to see the pack account for seven of Singapore’s 11 tries on the day.
Singapore jumped out to an early lead through tries by McFeely and Roberts (2). Wing Bryan Ng added a nice solo effort with a 60-metre dash to represent the backline in the first half. Two conversions from scrumhalf Suhaimi Imran pushed Singapore into the lead 24–5 at the break. India prop Suresh Sajwan got his team on the board in the 27th minute with an unconverted try.
When play resumed, Singapore winger Nicholas Groen added to India’s woes with a try in the 45th minute before India replied with a penalty through scrumhalf Sujai Lama in the 50th minute. Lama’s penalty accounted for India’s last points of the afternoon as it was all one-way traffic for Singapore from there on out, especially with India losing two players to the sin bin in the second half.
McFeely scored his second try in the 52nd minute, with Imran’s conversion pushing Singapore further ahead at 36–8. Making their man-advantage count, Singapore crossed over for five more tries in the second half through Zaki Muhammad, Etheredge, Wyllie (2) and centre Andrew Bourke, to complete the 67–8 rout.
Match captain and hooker Gaspar Tan summed up his team’s effort saying: “It was a strong display from the forwards. We started off really slow and gave up too many penalties but in the second half we made adjustments. We were more disciplined and just kept moving forward with the ball and the tries flowed from there.”
A disappointed India captain Nasser Hussain said: “We were up against a team that was recently relegated from Division I and it showed. There was a considerable difference between the two sides and they analysed our game well and took our strengths away. But despite the score line there were a few positives today and hopefully we can build on those for Iran on Friday.”
Singapore and Malaysia will meet in the Division II final on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Petaling Jaya in a match that resumes one of Asia’s fiercest rugby rivalries.
“Singapore v Malaysia is like the French playing the English. It is that kind of rivalry,” said Singapore coach Inoke Afeaki. “I like the Malaysian style of rugby. It is very fluid and it brings Singapore rugby out of its comfort zone, which is what we need. I think it will help us to play a more balanced kind of rugby, which is what we need if we want to go back up to the next level.”
Singapore captain Daniel Marc Chow added: “Playing Malaysia is always big for us and for them I’m sure. We really want to get the better of each other. It doesn’t matter what we are playing for when we are playing Malaysia. It’s more than just promotion on the line; there is a lot of pride at stake which is really going to help the boys get motivated for Saturday.”
The HSBC A5N Division III semi-finals will be played on Thursday, June 6, in Kuala Lumpur. Second seed Guam will play Indonesia in the first semi-final at 3 p.m., while top seed China face off against newly-promoted Qatar in the second semi-final at 5p.m. All games are held at the Petaling Jaya Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
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