Story by REDintern Ethan Lou. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports
It’s game on for both RI and ACS(I) players for the final match of the season. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
CCAB, Thursday, August 5, 2010 — Raffles Institution edged Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 8-5 to win the C Division Rugby Championship.
The Raffles win broke a 13-year ACS(I) stranglehold on the C Division title. The last time RI won the C Division title was back in 1996.
The RI teacher-in-charge of rugby, Mr Romi Musa, said: “I am glad that we won, finally.”
The matched kicked off with ACS(I) going on the offensive and they were soon camped inches away from the RI try line but RI did everything they could to hold their ground and ACS(I) could not break past.
Several scrums later, ACS(I) found themselves close again but still could not score despite their territorial advantage.
In the 18th minute, ACS(I) got a penalty kick, but what should have been an easy three points for them came to naught as the attempt by Rifdi Aqbary (ACS (I) #18) sailed just wide of the goal post.
The first half ended with both sides still tied at 0-0.
The tone of the second half was visibly different. The RI team came out of half time with a strengthened defense and refused to give ACS(I) any ground.
Within a minute, RI’s Park Chang Kyu (#11) made a brilliant dash for the ACS(I) goal line. Evading several ACS(I) players, he was eventually brought down before he could do any serious damage.
In the 35th minute, RI were awarded a penalty and the entire stadium was engulfed in silence. All eyes were on Park Chang Kyu (RI #11) as he prepared to take his kick. His effort then sailed effortlessly between the goalposts to give RI the game’s first lead at 3-0.
ACS(I) tried furiously to equalize but the RI team put up a solid defense. RI were then then awarded several penalties but Chang Kyu missed every one of them.
Minutes later, Marcel Low (RI #2) was lift tackled and thrown onto the field by Richard Keim (ACS(I) #6). The physios were all over him and a stretcher was even brought in but to much Rafflesian applause, he shrugged it off and rejoined the game.
As a result of that tackle, Keim got a red card and ACS(I) went down to 14 men.
RI took advantage and finally penetrated the ACS(I) defenses in the 50th minute, scoring a try through Ho Yi Shu (RI #8) to stretch their lead to 8-0 to thunderous applause from their supporters.
The resulting conversion attempt by Chang Kyu did not go in and that set the stage for a tense final 10 minutes as ACS(I) tried desperately to salvage the game. ACS(I) pushed further and further into RI territory and finally got their only try of the game in the last minute of the game through Bernard Chan (ACS(I) #9). But time ran out for ACS(I) in the game, as well as on their 13-year reign as C Division champions.
RI coach Faizal Ahyar said: “I am overjoyed, we did what we were supposed to do, (but) we made a few mistakes early in the game.”
Regarding the performance of ACS(I), he said: “ACS, well, I think they played well, but the game was all about defense. The team with the better defense would win. We had the better defense.”
Coach Ahyar also elaborated on Chang Kyu’s (#11) performance, saying: “He was under a lot of pressure. Before the game started, he was kicking from the half way line and all the kicks went in.”
Raffles Lineup
Dean (#1), Marcel Low (#2), Wei Meng(#3), Zong Sheng (#4), Yi Shu (#5), Edgar (#6), Syahid (#7), Wei Shern (#8), Zong-Rui (#9), Kyle (#10), Chang Kyu (#11), Maverick Lim (#12), Afiq (#13), Chong Chi (#14), Samuel Goh (#15)
ACS(I) Lineup
Joshua Tan (Prop), Nikhil Angappan (Hooker), Daniel Goh (Prop), Thaddeus Cheong (2nd Row), Robin Kang (2nd Row), Richard Kiem, Evandy Putra (Flanker), Gabriel Koh (Flanker), Bernard Chan (Scrumhalf), Joshua Chan (Standoff), Benedict Ong, Mathew Quek (Capt) (Center), Liew Yu Qiang (Center), Justin Tan (Winger), Joel Lim (Full Back), Keefe Tan (2nd Row), Jerone Ho (2nd Row), Rifdi Aqbary (Hooker), Luqman (Full Back), Tang Kah Yi (Flanker), Joby Chng (Winger), Toshiinoue (Winger), Jonathan Boey (Prop), Darius Ng (Scrumhalf), Daryl Chan (Hooker), Tan En Jie (Winger), Seah Jun Jie (Flanker), Tan Wei Hao (Flanker/Hooker)
An ACS(I) player passes the ball out. (Photo 2 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)
COMMENT DELETED (NICE TRY)
BY REDMASTER
pictures 5,6 and 13 are Samuel Goh (RI #15) while picture 10 is Maverick Lim (RI #12)
Thanks for the name updates.
sorry… but maverick lim is in picture 10. not picture 12. the person in picture 12 is chong chi (ri #14)
Thanks for the correction.
raffles lineup
1. Dean
2. Marcel
3. Wei meng
4. Zong sheng
5. Yi shu
6. Edgar
7. Syahid
8. Wei shern
9. Zong-rui
10.Kyle
11.Chang kyu
12.Maverick
13.Afiq
14.Chong Chi
15.Samuel
Thanks for the Raffles lineup.
congrats to the Saints in RI Team, and well done to the Saints in ACSi team.
#12 got sent-off for pushing ACSI #9’s face. Wasn’t a punch DUDE. dun believe me, ask the stadium(:
Try scorer is a lock no. 8 Ho Yi Shu
Thanks for the correction.
So nice to get these sorts of corrections that just state the facts.
TAUNTING COMMENT DELETED
BY REDMASTER
ANOTHER TAUNTING COMMENT BY KEYBOARD WARRIOR REMOVED
BY REDMASTER
welcome to raffles domination.
there isn’t gonna be a domination. there will be a better contest from raffles from now on but definitely no domination. acsi have been marvellous champs and they will be back. saints too will rebuild and bounce back. such is sports, win some lose some.
the best way to decide true champ is to have a 2 tier competition. elite and novice. in the elite comp, you have ri, acsi, saints, barker, sji & pioneer. play each other twice. top of table is champ. bottom gets demoted. winner of novice gets promoted.
@colonel: go and imagine it urself. this one not rugby 6nation, division1,2,3,4,5,6,76,7,8,8,9,90,,00,,,,4,wer,erwt,e,reag,evw
lol RI beat ac twice in this season. still champ wads the diff. anw sports need some luck dude
In reference to 5th photo from the end: RI player was not yellow carded for a punch. He pushed away an ACSi player who tried to get the ball away from him. It was not an aggressive act. However, the push happened to be on the head of the ACSi player. The offense was probably more for time wasting. Video evidence is available.
Your comment made the player and the sport of rugby ugly. It’s the same old way that the media tries to sensationalize events. Pls make sure to understand the sport before turning it into a circus. There are too many times when a good tackle becomes a dirty play just because an uninformed observer who doesnt understand the game thinks it’s wrong.
Also, as to wether the RI player should have been red carded: there was 7 mins left in the game when the incident occurred. A yellow card means you’re out of the game for 10mins. A red card means you cannot re-enter the game. Therefore, either a red or yellow card makes no difference at all. You could have even sent him to solitary confinement in Changi Prison. 7 mins was all there was left.
well said. It was indeed not an act of aggression and it is the media that has given this beautiful sport a bad name and blown things out of proportion. I am proud that our boys have stood up to this test of character and strength to immerge victors fairly. 14 years was a long wait, but no more, Raffles shall dominate the Singapore Rugby once again.
As usual, we always welcome people to provide corrections for captions or story points.
You tell us, we correct it.
We are quite far from giving the sport of rugby a bad name. That is not our intention. If we wanted to sensationalise it, we would have put that photo up front, big and centre, and the headline would also be quite different.
And the subtler rules of rugby is not exactly the most obvious or easy to understand to the average student volunteer reporter who hasn’t grown up watching the game.
State the fact, save the attack.
And you can always write your own story: http://redsports.sg/tell-your-story/
At Red Sports, we welcome it. We don’t get many volunteers to cover rugby cos not many understand the sport.
Every year, we struggle to find volunteers for rugby. Much easier to get volunteers for the other team sports so far.
You send it, we post it.
It wasn’t a push. It was a slap. The referee was biased.
yes it was. RI should have dominated the game with score 20+ – o… ref biased…
Please note Raffles #2 is Marcel Low. He was not elbowed but was lift tackle and thrown to the field. This is not allow, the tackler must hold on to him and fall together.
Thanks
Fixed. Thanks for the correction.
Ri no 2 who was injured was Marcel low, no such player as rafik