Rugby: Singapore U-16s go down 12-15 to Malaysian Sports School in friendly

Bandar Penawar, Desaru, Johor, Thursday, April 19, 2012 — The Singapore Under-16s lost a close game 12-15 to the Sekolah Sukan Tengju Makhota Ismail (SSTMI), also known as the Malaysian Sports School.

In the curtain raiser, a Singapore U-16 Team B beat their Malaysian counterparts 8-7.

A selection of players picked from the recently concluded National Schools B Division Rugby Championship arrived in Sekolah Johor to play in an annual age-group friendly between the two countries.

SSTMI is located off the coastal resort of Desaru, on the east coast of Johor, and the one-and-a-half hour bus trip was a chance for the young men to bond together. Many of them come from different schools and backgrounds and they were now playing together under a common uniform and flag.

Singapore Team B found themselves on a pitch that was sandy and rock hard, quite akin to playing on the Desaru beaches a few kilometers away. A torrential downpour greeted the players as they took the field which lasted throughout the entire match, making visibility sub-optimal and handling of the ball difficult.

Singapore led 5-0 at half time, the try coming when prop Ng Wei Ming crashed over in the corner following good work from the maul.

When asked about how the Singapore lads were doing, Team Manager George Danapal said that he was glad that our boys were dominating, but they should have put more points on the board.

In the second half with the rain still continuing to pour, Malaysia started to string together some nice moves and started making inroads into the game. However, the Singapore defence was resolute and were rewarded 5 minutes from time when they were awarded a penalty 20 metres out. Singapore’s Vicknesh stroked the kick sweetly through the posts to make the score 8-0 leading into the last play.

From the restart, a quick channeling of the ball to the wing saw Malaysia break quickly down the flank to score a try. They added two more points with a well-taken conversion, which then saw the referee blow for time immediately after. A hard-earned 8-7 victory for Singapore Team B.

By the time Singapore Team A took their positions on the pitch against SSTMI Team A for the main event, the rain had all but disappeared, to be replaced by a warm setting sun.

From the kick off, it was clear that the level of intensity and the quality of play was up a few notches from the first game. Throughout the first half, it was cut and thrust, followed by riposte and parry, as both teams sought to exploit the little gaps of space behind the defenders.

The Malaysians, more known for their prowess in the 7-a-side and the 10-a-side games, showed plenty of composure on the ball, and were never afraid to run at their opponents. Their ball handling was intricate and confident, capable of zipping the ball from one side of the pitch to the other in a mere three passes.

Singapore Team A countered with their brand of hard forwards-based rugby, strong in the scrums and in the breakdown, and methodical in the lineouts and mauls. A couple of missed penalties by Singapore kept the scoreline at 0-0 leading into the break, and everything to play for in the second half.

In the second half, Singapore Team A took a well-deserved lead when lock Jonathan Soepranto went over the line after a muscular maul from a lineout 5m out. The maul drove the defending Malaysians all the way back, leaving Soepra the easiest of tries to score. A missed conversion meant that Singapore Team A were holding on to a precarious 5-0 lead.

And so it did not hold as the Malaysians came storming back. Two well-taken tries, one of which was converted, saw them lead 12-5 with five minutes to go. Singapore Team A then came at the Malaysians in waves, before prop Malcolm Samuel finally barreled over for the try. With the ease of a seasoned kicker, Centre Park Chang Kyu nailed his conversion from wide out, to put the scores at 12-12 leading into the last few minutes of the game.

From the resultant kick off, the Malaysians attacked desperately in search of a last-ditch winner. They were rewarded when the referee awarded them a penalty 30m out for an early unbinding by a Singapore player. The resultant penalty was dispatched with aplomb with the referee blowing for time immediately after.

It was a tough defeat for the Singaporeans to swallow. Having fought so hard to get back on equal terms, the game was snatched away from them by a tough and contentious refereeing decision. On hindsight, many of the 50-50 decisions went the direction of the home team, leaving many of the Singapore contingent, on and off the pitch, puzzled and bemused.

At the end of the day, it was Malaysia who emerged victors in Straits trophy for 2012. For the Singaporean U-16 lads, it was a good and valuable experience for all of them. For them, it was the first time representing the country at any level, and from the performance of the players, it will not be the last for many of them. The games were played in an excellent spirit, and for the lads, going overseas to play on an ‘hostile’ away ground, and try to get a result, was never an easy matter.

It was heartening to see players, who were just weeks ago, battling tooth and nail against each other during the B Division competition, gel together so well after just a few sessions of combined training. The lads might have lost the main game, but they definitely earned the respect of the 10 or so die-hard supporters who travelled across the causeway to support the team.

If the SRU is able to keep this team together and further cement their team spirit with more combined trainings and games, we should hear more from this set of young men in the years to come.