Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Clara Yuan/Red Sports
Maurice Lim (MI #10) scores a try. Maurice led his team with three tries. (Photo 1 © Clara Yuan/Red Sports)
Physical Education and Sports Education Branch, Tuesday, May 12, 2015 — Millennia Institute (MI) dominated Pioneer Junior College (PJC) 38–11 to emerge champions in the National A Division Rugby Championship Plate final. MI had previously defeated PJC 31–7 in the preliminaries.
Millennia Institute were fourth in the Cup championship last year, while PJC finished runners-up in the Plate championship.
In the first half, Muhammad Haikal (MI #9) was ahead of the PJC defenders and looked to score, but Sanraj Mitra (PJC #26) caught up to stop his run. However, MI still managed to retain their possession, bringing the offense to the right where Maurice Lim (#10) broke through for the first try. Osfred Jefferson (#7) converted to give MI a 7–0 lead.
MI got past PJC’s defence easily with swift passes and thus were strong on offense, holding the ball mostly in their offensive half.
Midway through the first half, Kim Byung Jun (PJC #10) missed a penalty, but the ball landed right before the posts, bringing PJC’s offense close to the try line. PJC capitalized on the scoring opportunity pushed past the try line with Ng Sin Kee (PJC #3) touching down (5–7).
Thereafter, Haikal (MI #9) received a well-placed pass from his teammate, and zigzagged past all the defenders to score the second try for his team (12–5). Abdalmateen (MI #2) then scored another one to end the first half with MI up 17–5.
In the second half, Adam Vine (MI #13) received a pass at the halfway mark, and sprinted straight to the line to score a try untouched. Maurice (MI #10) scored his second try of the game shortly after. Haikal (#9) made both conversions to give MI a comfortable 31–5 lead.
PJC were then awarded a penalty and Byung Jun (#10) converted to make it 8–31.
Although MI dominated the game, PJC were undeterred and continued to fight on, taking it possession by possession. They then reduced the deficit to 11–31 through a penalty converted by Byung Jun (#10).
MI’s Maurice (#10) added another try to the scoreboard just before the game ended and Osfred (#7) made the conversion for MI to finish as champions with a 38–11 win over PJC.
MI captain, Maurice (#10), said, “The game was alright, we started off a little shaky, but as the game went by we started to get into the game. At the start, our team was complacent so we came into the game a bit off and didn’t know that they would put up such a huge fight. They were pushing all the way to the final whistle. I give credits to the PJ team because they played very hard. During the last few minutes of the game they were still pushing.”
On the season, Maurice added, “We lost a few key players when they graduated, so we didn’t really know where to start, so we were a bit off going into the season. We had a lot of fresh players and everything. To me, we played well individually but as a team we didn’t reach our potential. So it’s a bit disheartening. We were complacent and were knocked out of the Cup after we lost to ACJC 46–0. We were a little sad but picked up ourselves from there, started training hard again and came back for the game. It was an off-season so I felt it was quite bad.”
PJC vice-captain, Byung Jun (#10), said, “It was okay, we knew it was going to be a tough fight. We knew that basically MI had more experience than us from the start, so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we had the mindset that we will give it our best. It’s because we have come so far, and given the time that we have for trainings, as JC students, we had very little amount of trainings. We tried our best because we really wanted to show it to everyone. I’m very proud of the team because we really gave out all our best. And I’m sure that the supporters that came down were also very proud of us.”
When asked about his thoughts on the season, Byung Jun said, “The season was tough because basically our preliminaries grouping was not easy. We had ACS(I) and ACJC. Our very first game was against ACJC and we lost with the mercy rule. It wasn’t easy and it was emotionally very demoralizing but I’m glad that my team didn’t give up and we picked up ourselves, and gave our best. Along the season we really improved and continued improving, and the JJC game showed it all. We beat JJC and made it up all the way here.”
Scoring by half
MI vs PJC
1st half: 17–5
2nd half: 21–6 (38–11)
Scorers
MI
Maurice Lim (#10) – 2 tries
Adam Vine (#13) – 2 tries
Muhammad Haikal (#9) – 1 try, 2 conversions
Abdalmateen B Jamil (#2) – 1 try
Osfred Jefferson (#7) – 2 conversions
PJC
Ng Sin Kee (#3) – 1 try
Kim Byung Jun (#10) – 2 penalties
Millennia Institute Roster
Avinash Thirupathi Ayya (#1), Abdalmateen B Jamil (#2), Lim Jong Sik (#3), Dinesh Kumaar S/O Berabaharan (#4), Roshan Raj (#5), Loy Lim Ebenezer (#6), Osfred Chariany Jefferson (#7), Muhammad Fawwaz B Abdul Aziz (#8), Muhammad Haikal B Ghazali (#9), Lim Teng Chun Maurice (#10), Koh Chun Hoe Alex (#11), Jerald Low (#12), Adam Alexander Vine (#13), Lin Naing (#14), Antonin Crestois (#15), Abraham Francis Dale Tomarong (#16), Derron Leonardo Tio (#17), Nur Asri B Ali (#18), Samuel Hua En Emmanuel (#19), Tan Lok Yen (#20), Muhammad Syakir Bin Haniss (#21), Haris Mohd Ash’ari (#22), Ahmad Rafiqi B Razali (#23), Eric Choo Yuan Hong (#24), Mu’izzuddin B Maswadi (#25), Mohammed Mikaail (#26), Tan Xin Yu (#27), Jasper Chew Wen Bin (#28)
Pioneer Junior College Roster
Seow Zhi Chao (#1), Karl Jerome Dragon (#2), Ng Sin Kee (#3), Mughilan S/O Thanasalan (#4), Nguyen Anh Minh (#5), Christopher Tay Zhi Qian (#6), Ang Zhao Wei (#7), Ng Mai Feng (#8), Chua Wei Hern (#9), Kim Byung Jun (#10), Do Manh Hoang (#11), Teo Mou Xuan (#12), Muhamad Fazirul Bin Hanafe (#13), Heng Jian Zhong (#14), Asrul Fadzil Bin Azmi (#15), James Ng Tze Chian (#16), Sim Teng Hong Cuthbert (#17), Tan Jia Jun (#18), Hanson Lim (#19), Joshua Lim Zheng Jie (#20), Loo Jun Xian (#21), Chung Yu Cheng (#22), Shawn Seah Wei Kiat (#23), Kevin Kuer Zong Xuan (#24), Koh Yan Hao (#25), Sanraj Mitra (#26), Owe Yong Hong Zheng (#27), Benjamin Koh Khi Chern (#28)
National A Division Boys Rugby Championship — Fixtures and Results
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