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
will there be a report on SP vs ITE?
I think if anyone wants to make comments about harresh like what 14 has done above, he should state his name. Be a man. Don’t hide behind a nickname. Then let Harresh respond. If you hide behind a nickname, I think comments like these come off as cheap shots.
I don’t know harresh. Never met him in my life. I would write this regardless of whether I know the player or not.
I was about to delete this comment but let it through because i try not to censor anything except for racial, religious slurs and vulgarities.
les
editor
Think that the Ref was a little out of position at times, and whilst blame can’t always be on the ref, Fathur’s (ITE No 8) ‘try’ in the corner just before the half was the turning point.
From the stands, it certainty looked like a try after some great work from the ITE forwards rampaging through, but after the touch down, the ref called it back for a knock on. The ref was out of position (nearly on the other side of the pitch) and was a really bold call for him to make.
That for me was the turning point, and with TP only up 3 – 0 and looking very shaky and unable to contain the speedy ITE backline.
TP really did not play well, and looked really shaky in defence when ITE had the ball in hand and were running at them. National player Harresh is being too heavily called upon by the team, and was often seen walking around the field and not contributing to the contact situations.
harresh was not being sportmanship, he should have wait for the injured player to get treatment 1st.. its a big disgrace for him as a national player.
ITE should have the victory. Great game.
in my opinion, ITE played a hell of a game. i think ITE deserved to win. they played hard and with shit load of fire, they were unlucky to not have won that hard fought match. Well Done ITE.
ITE’s backline was real awesome. Just a pleasure to watch. When ITE was attacking , TP were simply to slow to react. Bad marking by TP and some excellent offloading by ITE, especially the constant nagging off the flanker and fullback, created some really superb runs. I think TP’s backline defense was really horrendous on the day, allowing ITE to just slice through them in the middle and contain them in their on half for most of the game. However, TP does have the structure to win, only lacking in self-believe. TP stop pointing fingers at one another, because you dont win a game because of a single player, and you certainly don’t lose a game for the same reason. You cannot doubt your talents, not when you’re already this far in the competition. You nd to remember that it is a team game afterall. Good luck to both teams. Cheers.
Sorry guys ! No reports on the SP game as I missed the first half.
As for the game. I agree with pol-ite follower. ITE were hard done by their own handling. And had they chosen the choice of taking points. TP might have lost.
Will never know.
KEep posting !
ite play well la i can say, but if they were more composed, they would have won the game. Well, smack SP the next game then. hahaha. But on serious not, i really think ite will give Sp a reall hard time. Keep it up ITE!!!
nah i beg to differ. TP didnt deserve the win. Their “players to watch” were totally shut down by ITE’s defence. IMO TP would have crumbled if not for ITE’s numerous dishandlings. Nevertheless it was a joy to watch and I cant wait for the SP vs ITE match coming this tuesday. SP seems to be the team with more structure and confidence or arrogance, some might say. However ITE playing with heart and soul will not go down without a fight. All the best guys!
yea. no report on sp’s game?
I was at the temasek poly when TP and ITE played.It was a very good game of rugby.With ITE very impressive(in their lightning backs),and TP not playing up to their potential.TP could have won by a bigger margin had they taken a penalty right in front of the posts right before halftime.n i feel that ITE should have taken a more structured approached in the match.But what a great match to watch,a very close and exciting match to watch(seriously).However,i was looking at TP’s bench and there were a few key players not playing.1 or 2 were injured but not sure why the others were not starting( and they only went on late in the game).
On the whole,an exciting tournament to watch and well done to TP and ITE for putting up such a good display for neutrals to watch.
yea. sp and np’s game?
hmmm how abt SP’s game? no report on that one?
ITE was really impressive. Good running, even better tackling.
props to them. =)
I disagree, ..we should have won the match if we try to go for the points..we have amazing players in the team, playing together as one. The spirit is there, but we just couldn’t find that something to win the game. Our backs were superb on that day, breaking TP line of defense everytime we gain possesion of the ball. We stick to our game plan, and implement it on the field. GREAT display of rugby
A great game for neutral. A lot of controversial incident that makes it even more interesting. I can say by witnessing the match, TP is more structured in tactics but ITE is a nicer team to watch. Well done both teams. Next few games will be more interesting and highly anticipated.
we were robbed too many times.. most due to de reff decision.. n we felt harresh’s try shouldnt b awarded as we tot de reff is gonna pause de game n do somethin bout 1 of our players injuries(hanafi).. he was ask to move to de sideline wen haresh jus tap n go for a simple try.. n its awarded?? its not bout bein alert or not.. its a common reaction.. wen a reff attended to a player de rest would gather n plan some tactics.. dats wat we did.. but i cant complain much.. we accept our lost n accept de fact tp is de beta team on dat day.. mayb luck was on their side.. this yr n last yr.. hope we could have a rematch someday.. coz its a gd game to play.. a frenly mayb.. gd luck wit ur games tp..
Sorry folks. No pictures. No photographer was there that day.
great job on the reports. no pictures?