B Division Rugby: St Andrew’s overcome St Joseph’s Institution 20-0 for second win of campaign

Story by Noor Farhan/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Republic Polytechnic Sports Complex, Saturday, February 26, 2011 — Saint Joseph’s Institution (SJI) had no answer to Saint Andrew’s Secondary good overall play as they went down 0-20 in the first round of the B Division Rugby Championship.

This was only their second game of the championship for both teams, with lightning forcing a postponement of this match from two Fridays ago at the original Yio Chu Kang Stadium venue.

The Saints scored two tries in each half through Kelvin Yau, Maurice Wong, Gurveer Singh and Shane Tay. All were not converted.

St Andrew’s also missed a try midway in the second half when they dropped the ball right before the try line.

“They started off well in the first half. It started to get a bit messy when we introduced the subs, but overall we are pleased with the performance,” said Daniel Thiam, 29, Saints teacher-in-charge, who has had years of club and national-level rugby experience.

“I think SJI came out very strong in the early kick-off as they were defending well. I think we were just a bit better in terms of fitness because that was where our tries came in from. Skills-wise, I thought we were pretty much on par with each other,” he added.

SJI were able to play an excellent game despite the loss. Coach Alfred Nathan was pleased with his charges’ performance, especially when they put into practice what they had learnt in training during the second half.

“The start was a bit slow (for us), but I think we ended pretty well and I thought the second half was quite good, if not for the odd mistake here and there,” said coach Nathan.

“For us, winning or losing was not the issue today as we wanted to play well and to tighten up all the mistakes, and I thought that was what we did today.”

Final Result
St Andrew’s 20 SJI 0

Try scorers: Kelvin Yau, Maurice Wong, Gurveer Singh and Shane Tay

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