B Division Rugby: ACS(I) retain title with 5-0 win over Saints

By Les Tan/Red Sports. Photos by Vanessa Lim/Red Sports

Home Team Academy, Thursday, April 7, 2011 — Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) successfully defended their B Division Rugby Championship title with a 5-0 victory over St Andrew’s Secondary.

Barry Ann Jie (#2) scored the only try of the game in the 22nd minute of the first half to seal the win.

A strong second half performance by St Andrew’s, including a missed early penalty by Maurice Wong (#13) that hit the post, almost saw the boys in blue and white steal the win.

ACS(I) head coach Adrian Chong acknowledged that it was a close win.

“It was a game of two halves. If this was boxing, we would have been outpointed,” he said. “We had no platform to attack. Our set pieces were not good enough.”

“We are usually better on offense and I’m proud that we held firm in defense. Collectively, they wanted it, they held off the challenges. They got us out of jail. It was nothing short of a miracle. I can’t imagine how we held them off.”

ACS(I) had the majority of possession in the first half but could find no penetration in the final third. From a 5m scrum and a subsequent ruck, scrumhalf Hilman Iskandar Wong (ACSI #9) passed the ball to Barry Ann Jie (#2) and the hooker barged over for the try. Sebastian Seow could not convert and the boys in blue and gold could not translate further possession into points for the rest of the first half.

Their slim 5-0 was soon sorely tested in the early minutes of the second half.

Maurice Wong (SA #13) lined up to take a penalty two minutes after the break and as the ball arched its way upwards, it looked like the Saints would put a quick three points on the scoreboard.

However, to the horror of the supporting Saints crowd, the ball hit the left upright and bounced clear, leading to a huge cheer from an obviously relieved ACS(I) crowd.

The Saints did not flag and kept their heads up, and for those used to seeing ACS(I) piling forward in offense in most games, this was something new as the defending champions spent the majority of the 30-minute second period stuck in their own half.

The Saints came close to scoring tries at least twice, with their best chance coming right at the death of second half. Saints won a penalty in front of the ACS(I) posts but despite their valiant efforts, the ACS(I) line held firm.

“We were underdogs but we showed them what we got. We could have won!” said Saints captain Naresh Kunasegaran.

“We didn’t use our possession in the second half. We were too excited. But I’m really proud of them. We gave our best to the end,” added Naresh.

ACS(I) have now won 11 B Division titles in their history while the Saints still hold the record with 19 B titles.

For the 15 years since 1997, ACS(I) have won the B title 11 times with the Saints picking up four.

In the playoff for third and fourth, ACS (Barker Road) beat St Joseph’s Institution 24-10.

National B Division Rugby Championship — Full fixtures and results

ACS(I) Lineup
Daniel Goh (prop #1), Barry Ann Jie (hooker #2), Aldrin Harvey Mercado (prop #8), Tan Wen Bin (2nd row #4), Loh Eu Wen (2nd row #5), Geoffrey Lee (flanker #6), Norman Ng (flanker #7), Louis Quek, (No. 8 #21), Hilman Iskandar Wong (Scrumhalf #9), Sebastian Seow (standoff #10), Panuvich (winger #27), Samuel Becker (centre #13), Samuel Teo (centre #12), Dominic Ting (winger #14), Ngen Ge Liang (fullback #15), Joshua Tan (prop #30), Julius Lauw (hooker, #19), Shawn Chow (prop, 16), Oliver Damas (2nd row #3), Md Annes (scrumhalf #28), Matthew Quek (flanker/hooker #29), Shi Cheng Hao (fullback #11), Darren Cheah (prop #17), Jasper Goh (flanker #20), Richard Keim (No.8 18), Kenneth Yon (winger #26), Pek Zhi Xiang (prop #24), Tan Jia Wei (injured)

St Andrew’s Lineup
Samuel Koh (#0), Kelvin Yau (#12), Adriel Toh (#2), Muhammad Khidir B Nooralim (#11), Dominic Foong (#5), Gurveer Kaven Singh Gill (#17), Bleston Low (#4), Sean Chang (#9), Maurice Wong (#13), Jerry Lim (#15), Muhammad Syafiq B Mohd Amin (#7), Tay Wei Shane (#16), Abdul Rauf B Abdullah (#24), Naresh s/o Kunasegaran (capt #10), Nigel Ian Rankine (#3)

Substitutes: Issac Lim (#30), Chan Cheng Boon (#27), Akmal Haqim B Asmi, Marcus Teo (#20), Muhammad Zulhaiqal B Zulhisham (#26), Kyran Chew (#25), Darren Jeevan Jose Charles (#19), Ryan Yeo (#8), Ervin Ng (#23), Rickvinder Singh Parmar (#28), Vengkatesh A Danapalan (#29), Muhamad Redha B Muhamad Indra (#22), Davild Chibueze Daniel (#18)

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