By REDintern Fiona Lee
ACS(BR) players react with disappointment after failing to stop Jeromy Chua (#8) of St Andrew’s from scoring the opening try of the game. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
PESEB (former CCAB), Evans Road, Monday, February 25, 2013 – Defending champions St Andrew’s Secondary needed a lucky break to beat Anglo-Chinese School (Baker Road) 14-12 at the death in Round 1 of the National B Division Rugby Championship.
ACS(BR) were leading 12-11 with just seconds to play when, in the heat of play during a scrum near the ACS(BR) try line, an ACS(BR) player threw the ball out instead of kicking it, which would have ended the match.
The referee called for a penalty and Mohamad Ruzaini (#15) duly converted to give Saints an unexpected 14-12 victory.
“Honestly, we shouldn’t have won this match,” admitted Jeromy Chua (#8), captain of St Andrew’s. Jeromy also felt that this was one of their worst games to date, and that his team had not played according to instructions.
This was Saints’ third victory in a row, after previous wins over Montfort Secondary (66-3) and St Joseph’s Institution (17-0). Saints remain unbeaten.
Jeromy Chua scored the opening try in the first half to give Saints a 5-0 lead. Mohamad Ruzaini added six more points with two penalties to give Saints an 11-0 half-time lead.
ACS(BR) caught up in the second half with two tries through the efforts of Samuel Gunalan (#11) and Kamen Tang (#3). A conversion on one of the tries by Loh Chuang Yi (#7) gave ACS(BR) a slim 12-11 lead.
“We only woke up in the second half after the half-time talk when they (Saints) scored. We returned the favour right back in the second half,” said Kamen Tang, captain of ACS(BR).
“But they (Saints) were more hungry for the ball and were more fired up than us today,” Kamen added.
In their previous match, ACS(BR) beat 2012 losing finalists, Raffles Institution, 20-0.
Both team captains predicted that SJI, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Saints and ACS(BR) as the likely top four schools in the National Championship this year.
St Andrew’s roster
Justin Teo (#1), Ryan Ong (#2), Austin Ng (#3), Hidayatulhakim (#4), Haznce (#5), How Yu Sing (#6), John Chan (#7), Jeromy Chua (#8), Wong Kok Ho (#9), Syirazinurdinie (#10), Alif (#11), Zul Fadli (#12), Romille Reyes (#13), Dedrick Lim (#14), Mohamad Ruzaini (#15), Adley Goh (#16), Haziq (#17), Umar (#18), Mirza (#19), Jotham Teo (#20), Bernard Teh (#21), Ezekiel Soh (#22), Mark Anthony (#23), Akida Lim (#24), Qushyrie (#25), Ghalib Samir (#26), Sean Chuan (#28), Anand Charles (#29), Tay Hao Xia (#30)
ACS(BR)roster
Matthias Soh (#2), Kamen Tang (#3), Joed Tay (#4), Joseph Hu (#5), Hong Lin (#6), Loh Chuan Yi (#7), Mikkhail (#8), Anders Quah (#9), Andre Quah (#10), Samuel Gunalan (#11), Ethan Foo (#12), Ahmad Zhuri (#13), Jonathan Chua (#14), Jaren Heng (#15), Samuel Foo (#16), Ajay Ratty (#17), Asraff (#18), Jared Hoe (#19), Alaistair Wong (#20), Mun Yen (#21), Izzudin Shah (#22), Ebenezer Loy (#23), Kieren Wong (#24), Jared Tang (#25), Bronson (#26), Ezra Daniel (#27), William Loh (#28), Danish (#29)
2013 National B Division Rugby Championship — fixtures and results
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[…] Saints in second. Both schools had played out a tightly contested match in the group stage, with St. Andrew’s coming out narrow 14–12 winners, thanks to a last-ditch […]