RUGBY
POL-ITE Rugby Championship 2007/2008
Story by Muhammad Hannan.
Temasek Polytechnic, Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 – Temasek Polytechnic squeezed past the Combined Institute of Technical Education (ITE) 8-7 to win their second game in a row in the POL-ITE Championship.
The game was played on the newly re-turfed synthetic field of Temasek Polytechnic, a surface the ruggers were not accustomed to. Despite home field advantage, Temasek Polytechnic found Combined ITE in their faces early on.
Temasek lost the ball in contact various times due to the hard tackling of Combined ITE’s outside-centre #7 Md. Jamil. Jamil was more robust in the rucks as he made use of the boot stomping on a Temasek player who didn't release the ball. The Temasek player, #15 Samuel Low, had to come off for a blood-bin. Temasek chose to kick for a line-out but lost the ball in the subsequent line-out.
Temasek were given another penalty 5 minutes later when ITE players were penalized for playing the ball off their feet. Temasek #15 Samuel Low converted the penalty from 25 metres out to put his team three points up.
The restart from ITE was hotly contested as tackles flew in from all directions. The ITE players were eager to get points on the board as they attacked the Temasek line but Temasek stayed strong and held off ITE. ITE managed a good break in the 27th minute when full back Md. Azzeri received the ball from a back line move and ran past the entire Temasek backline. His chip-and-chase however didn't connect as he fumbled the ball 20 metres out from Temasek's goal line.
ITE were denied what looked like a legitimate try from Md. Fathur in the dying seconds of the first half when the referee disallowed the try for incorrect grounding, leaving ITE feeling robbed and Temasek Poly leading 3-0 at the break.
ITE started the second half strongly with good runs from #7 Md. Jamil, #8 Md. Fathur and #15 Md. Azzeri. The trio were a constant threat to the Temasek defence whenever they had the ball in hand. Temasek were finding it hard to cope with the pressure as they gave away penalties for infringements in the breakdowns.
ITE once again came close in the 40th minute when good back line play opened up #7 Md. Jamil to run at the defence. A good draw-and-pass from him led to an opening for #15 Md. Azzeri to sprint to the line. However, Temasek's covering defence was quick to close him down. #15 Md. Azzeri picked the option of a chip-and-chase but this time was unable to ground the ball because the synthetic field made it hard to judge the bounce of the ball.
Temasek then required another blood-bin as the rough tactics used by ITE got more damaging.
ITE finally got their try when their quick thinking Flanker #23 Farhan broke through the side of the ruck. He sprinted to the line only to be brought down by a last-gasp tackle. Farhan however managed to offload the ball to his supporting teammate #8 Md. Fathur who ran over for the try in the middle. The conversion by #11 Syawal was successful to put ITE 7-3 up.
The game looked to be heading towards an ITE victory before Temasek got a try seven minutes from time. A good pick-and-go from Temasek forwards opened the right side for the backs to run. A tackle inches from the goal line set-up a ruck, creating an easy scoring opportunity for Temasek's #8 Harresh Krishnan a chance to pick and drive through the smaller ITE defenders. Temasek's #15 Samuel Low scuffed conversion attempt meant that Temasek only had a slim 8-7 lead over ITE.
Temasek were lucky not to lose the game when their players started throwing tantrums at one another. ITE however could not capitalize on this weakness with repeated ball fumbles and were unlucky not to get themselves any points. When the referee blew for full time, the Temasek team erupted in a roar of jubilation mixed with relief.
Match statistics:
Final score: Temasek Polytechnic 8 Combined ITE 7
Temasek Polytechnic - 8
Scores: Harresh Krishnan
Conversions: Nil
Penalties: Samuel Low
Combined ITE - 7
Scorers: Md. Fathur
Conversions: Syawal
Penalties: Nil
Remaining fixtures:
8th January 2008 – Tuesday – 4.30pm – ITE vs SP – Temasek Polytechnic Sports Field
8th January 2008 – Tuesday – 6.00pm – TP vs RP – Temasek Polytechnic Sports Field
12th January 2008 – Saturday – 4.30pm – RP vs ITE – Temasek Polytechnic Sports Field
12th January 2008 – Saturday – 6.00pm – TP vs SP – Temasek Polytechnic Sports Field
date and time to be confirmed – Republic Poly vs Ngee Ann Poly – tbc
date and time to be confirmed – ITE vs Ngee Ann Poly – tbc
* and covered the…
* I wouldn’t have commit time to the game..
to neutral.
I enlisted on the 8th an cover the 7th jan game. Hope that clarifies ur doubts. I covered the IVP game as I made a commitment to Les.
If i hadn’t made a commitment I wouldn’t have commit. See you at Temasek Polytechnic for later’s game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvcsZoH5hcg
Hannan enlisted yesterday. So not sure which game you are referring to.
Maybe he went AWOL because he was just dying to cover the games.
oh then how come hannan can go to the touch rugby games?
Reply to 14: Well, if you were in that situation. Im sure you would have too went for the try, the ref also didnt stop the match, so just play on only la. You know why most pple would have gone for it? Play by the whistle mah this is call…
And ya sia abt the Fathur’s try, i too also thought that is was a try frm the stands thinking why the hell the ref didnt awarded that try. But coming to think abt it, Fathur most likely unfortunately dropped the ball la. If not who %100 scored the try one den ref didnt give den you would go mad at the ref to the max sia…But even for me as a tp player, after the match and even till today i felt that we were really lucky to have won the match la…ITE played awesomed…
CHILL LA PPLE CHILL!!! hahahaha
There is no match report for RP v TP because there was no writer there. Feel free to write in your match report if you feel so moved to do so.
We’ll publish it.
the score for RP v TP was 7 – 15. good match, i feel TP played well, just that they were bugged by injuries, and some bad hands. RP had their good points too, huge improvement compared to last year.
but good game to all, already looking forward to next year’s game. 🙂
by the way, is there a match report on the way?
Sorry but there was no writer or photographer at the rugby games today. Our rugby writer Hannan and photographer Shaun Chook just entered national service. In fact, the Red Sports volunteer crew will lose 80% of the team by the end of January to national service.
Can anyone update on the results for both games?
les
editor