Contributed by Amos Siow, Singapore Management University
Three rugby-playing varsities will compete in the first-ever Tri-Universities Rugby Championship in Singapore with a new home-and-away format. Ever since the polytechnics pulled out from the Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Rugby Championship, the three universities have been playing against each other once a year. Previously, the tournament would only consist of one leg but this year, the teams will play each other twice, home and away.
All three teams boast of former national age-group players and some current national team players as well. The games are expected to to be close but the National University of Singapore (NUS) are the favourites to come out tops against the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore Management University (SMU).
For fixtures, please go to:
Yup. Uni rugby standard has dropped, many players prefer to study or just stopped playing. many playing now are new players or people just wanting to try out the sport. so even if the unis join the IVP with the polys and ITEs again, its not a sure win for unis. It will be pretty even,
nah mitchell…thats a bit harsh. the polys and ites sides are pretty good.SP and TP are certainly very good teams.well personally our aim is to bring back the ivps and make it as prestigous a competition that it once was. for polys and unis to play their separate tournament…is a bit silly honestly…thats also the reason why we have resulted to having a home and away format for this tri unis.
to tri-uni, i agree with you to the extent that it will be great for the exposure. playing against opponents who are more skilled will only make you a better player. but on the flip side, i doubt the unis will gain anything from playing us, seeing the noticeable gap in terms of skill. and this is not an insult to poly rugby, i’m a poly rugger myself.
anyway i also second Luigi’s idea on home and away fixtures. however, i think currently TP have the rights to hosting the Pol-ITE.
but, any rugby news is good news to me. and the tri-uni sounds very interesting, will definitely try to catch a match if and when i’m able.
cheers
ntu used to be a real power house.
sadly, USED TO. – ntu to lose every game.
why dont the polys jus join back with the unis to play the ivps.it will be great
An idea would to have the polys playing with the JCs.. haha
rather far-fetched at this point of time.. but hey, why not? It sounds interesting actually. to me at least. lol
It is unfortunate that the polytechnics pulled out of the IVP Rugby Championship. While I can understand that they would not want to be always be on the losing end of games against bigger and older opponents, there is something to be said for having the opportunity to play more games throughout the year.
Training for just 4 serious competitive games a year is a waste.
The IVP basketball teams also suffers from the same lack of playing opportunities.
i agree with you luigi.
4 games is just too short. =]
Very good format.. haha
everyone was hoping for this to happen sooner so that teams will have more games.
lets hope they do something for POL-ITE too so that teams get more games too.
training so hard just for 4 games makes it kinda hard to swallow. ha just my humble opinion though.