Story by Koh Yizhe and Ng Enna/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

B division rugby semifinals

First try goes to Saints. (Photo 1 © Vanessa Lim/Red Sports)

CCAB, Thursday, March 31, 2011 — St Andrew’s Secondary just scraped past Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) 13-7 to win a place in the final of the B Division Rugby Championship.

Saints had beaten ACS(BR) 46-0 in a first round game last week but this semi-final was a much more hotly contested affair.

Saints took an early lead in the fifth minute through Adriel Toh (#2) and Maurice Wong duly converted to put his side 7-0 up. The match then swung ACS(BR)’s way as they pushed Saint’s defense all the way to the try line on numerous occasions, but were not able to find the breakthrough.

Maurice Wong then punished ACS(BR) with a pair of penalties to give Saints a 13-0 lead. Although Saints looked to be cruising to victory, ACS(BR) were asking serious questions about their defense. With less than 10 minutes remaining, ACS(BR) finally found the break they were looking for.

Clement Chan (#14) managed to sneak over the try line on the right side and although it was at the corner and at a tough angle for Darryl Chua (#13), the kicker made the conversion to bring his side to within six at 7-13.

ACS(BR) then pushed for another try, knowing a converted try would set up an all-ACS final. Their chances got a boost when Saint’s Naresh (#15) recieved a yellow card for making a late challenge on Mark Yuen (#25) after the ACS(BR) player had punted the ball up the field.

However, despite their best efforts, ACS(BR) could not find that all-important try to send them into the final.

“We could have won by more than ten points!” said a disappointed Wesley Foong, captain of ACS(BR). “Today, everything could have been done better. The forwards, line outs, just everything. When we were near their try line, it was partly bad luck and not enough support that we weren’t able to score.”

The final will be played on Thursday, April 7, 2011, 4.30pm, at Home Team Academy.


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