ACS(I) hold off Saints to retain Championship title

RUGBY

National ‘C’ Division Championship 2007
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) vs St Andrew’s Secondary
Monday, 20 August 2007 at Yio Chu Kang Stadium

Story by Leslie Tan. © Red Sports/soulbreath pictures
Pictures by Red Sports readers Jerome Teo, Goh Shao Wei and Mr Wee Ban Bee. Thanks. More pictures in the gallery.

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) endured a barrage of second half attacks from St Andrew’s Secondary to emerge 10-7 victors in front of a capacity crowd of 1,000. With this victory, ACS(I) have won 11 ‘C’ Division Championship titles in a row.

Shaun Khoo of ACS(I) wins the line-out over a Saint. © Jerome Teo

Within six minutes of the start, ACS(I) were at the Saints’ 5-metre line. The heavier ACS(I) forwards then did enough in the scrum to get the ball out to Saul Ong who skipped tackles from four Saints before presenting his captain Low Zhende with the opportunity to ground the ball for the first try of the game. His teammate Mattias Chia still had the difficult job of converting from way out on the wing but he managed to summon enough accuracy and strength to send the ball just over the crossbar for two additional points. 7-0 to ACS(I).

Two ACS(I) ruggers haul down Saints’ Benedict Foo. © Wee Ban Bee

Picking themselves up as best they could from the early set back, Saints drove into ACS(I) territory with 15 minutes gone on the clock. For the next six minutes, Saints pounded the ACS(I) line with wave after wave of attacks with their heavy tank-like forward Khor Jia Jun asking a lot of questions of the ACS(I) backline. But ACS(I) stood their line and finally relieved the pressure when the ball fell loose to Marah Moehammad Ishraf who picked it up and kicked it back upfield.

An ACS(I) player looks for a gap to break through. © Wee Ban Bee

Like two heavyweights taking a breather after a round of pounding, play got bogged down as both sides struggled to impose their will and neither side threatened. Then, as though a bell was sounded for the next round, Saints moved back into the ACS(I) half and the slugging continued. Saints got to within 10 metres of the try line but could not get through.

A Saint gets hauled down just after kicking the ball upfield. © Jerome Teo

Then came a crucial moment in the game. A penalty was awarded to the Saints and Jay-Hykel Bin Jailani stood right in front of the goal. Now was his opportunity to put three psychologically important points on the board just before the half-time break. However, whether it was the muddy, treacherous field conditions or the thought of 1,000 pairs of eyes looking at him, Jay mis-kicked, hitting both ball and tee. One flag went up, one flag stayed down. Saints’ hearts fell and ACS(I) heaved a sigh of relief. Despite the disappointment, Saints continued their attacks and came down on the ACS(I) back line again. Saints’ spirits rose again when the team soon found themselves mere inches from the try line. But despite the cheering from the stands, the yelling from the coaches and the efforts on the ground, the forwards just could not ground it.

An ACS(I) player gets stopped in his tracks by Tang Hon En (#9) of Saints just before the try line. © Wee Ban Bee

When the second half got underway, the blue and white of St Andrew’s drove forward again in waves and apart from one brief moment when Qamarul Arifin Bin Mohd Hanafi skipped three tackles to raise an ACS(I) roar, it was all Saints for the next 15 minutes. An accurate kick upfield brought the action to within 10 metres of the ACS(I) try line. From the resulting action, Saints almost went over for a try but ACS(I) threw them back. In the next attack, it was only a mishandled ball by Jay five metres out that caused the attack to fizzle out. Saints drove forward again and Khor Jia Jun again made a charge for the try line. One metre out, he was tackled and the ball fell loose. Another failed attack.

Joshua Quek of ACS(I) picks up the ball from a ruck. © Wee Ban Bee

With 13 minutes gone in the half, Saints forced a line-out three metres from the try line. Nicholas Yau won the line-out and from the ensuing maul, Lester Wong grabbed the ball and went down for the try. Showing he could recover mentally from the first half error, Jay sent the conversion over the crossbar to make it 7-7, much to the delight of the Saints supporters.

Khor Jia Jun of Saints stops an ACS(I) player from moving any further. © Goh Shao Wei

Then came the sucker punch for the Saints. The excitement had barely died down when ACS(I) went on the attack from the restart and earned a penalty. Mattias Chia strode forward and planted the ball between the posts to send the flag-waving ACS(I) contingent delirious again. 10-7 to ACS(I).

The game played out in front of a 1,000-strong pack of schoolmates, teachers, parents and old boys. © Goh Shao Wei

With the momentum swinging back their way, Mohamed Nazryn caught a Saints kick and raised another ACS(I) roar from his supporters when he sidestepped the first Saint tackle, leaving the Saint flying past him and clutching at nothing. Nazryn then sidestepped another tackle before being tackled down. But he bounced back up like a rubber ball before being pounded and dragged down by a group of Saints. Then it was Saul Ong’s turn to break through after a scrum before he also got hauled down. His teammate Qamarul Arifin then almost went over for a try immediately after that. Two minutes later, an ACS(I) maul ground to a halt right on the try line but just couldn’t quite make it over. Saints finally relieved the pressure when a ball spilled loose after a scrum and Tang Hon En kicked it upfield. ACS(I) came back again but their energies spent slogging on muddy pitch, did not threaten. When the full-time whistle went soon after, the ACS(I) bench erupted with shouts of “11 in a row!”

Shaun Khoo gets stuck in while two Saints players tackle him. © Goh Shao Wei

“We’ve never been under this kind of pressure before,” said Qamarul of ACS(I) after the game, referring to the second half pressure from the Saints. “Except from our Sec threes!” he said with a grin. As defending champions and with a record of 10 straight victories, was there pressure? “Yes, there was lots of pressure before the game,
” said ACS(I) captain Low Zhende. “But our coaches relieved the pressure for us by telling us to concentrate on the game. We also expected Saints to give us a lot of pressure but right now, it feels really good to win 11 in a row!”

ACS(I) celebrate victory and the final whistles while Saints heads hang low. © Goh Shao Wei

“We had a communication problem in the first half,” said Hendricks Tan, captain of the Saints. “There was some fear in the team about AC being bigger than us. But in the second half, the coach got us up for it and that’s why we managed to apply so much pressure.” Lester Wong, who scored the only try for the Saints, said: “My teammate Jia Jun helped push me over for the try. The AC penalty really deflated us though because we had just drawn level.”

“11 straight championships!” Qamarul Arifin points it out with his jersey. © Wee Ban Bee

Editor’s note: Please leave name updates or corrections for captions in the comments section. More pictures coming later. Do check back.

St Andrew’s:

Tan Hong En
Hendricks Tan (capt)
Lee Wei An
Muhd Zikri Hidayat B M D
Lester Wong
Adbdul Rauf s/o Abdul Rashid
Stewart Julian-Mark
Naresh s/o Kunasegaran
Tevan Sankaran s/o Jeyasankar
Bryan Lim
Matthew Tan
Nicolas Yao
Muhd Taufiq B Mohamed R
Brij Mohan Singh
Benedict Foo
Khor Kia Jun
Jonathan Loo
Anthony Kuah
Hargaven Singh Gill
Muhd Nur Syazwan B M R
Tan Wang Ren
Teng Chong Yao
Akio Lim
Daniel tan
Bryan Wong
Chua Zongyu
Jay-Hykel B Jailani

ACS(I):

Joey Wee
Marah Moehammad Ishraf
James Morgan Alexander
Mark Wong
Abel Simeon Khoo
Amos Tan
Joshua Quek
Julian Nicholas Chang
Keith Khoo
Kenneth Ang
Jaira Koh
Damian Lee
Low Zhende
Mattias Chia
Mohamed Nazryn B Mohamed J
Jonathan Ng
Nicholas Hoong
Qamarul Arifin B Mohd Hanafi
Shaun Daryl Khoo
Leon Song
Nicholas Tan
Tan Yuan Ming
Gideon Chan
Nicholas Siah
Saul Joseph Ong
Calvin Ying
Theodore Ng
Zachary Koh