Singapore celebrate their 20–17 win over Malaysia in the final of the Asian 5 Nations Division II. (Photo courtesy of Elite Step Asia)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, June 8, 2013 – Singapore scrumhalf Suhaimi Amran slotted home a pressure penalty kick in the 80th minute of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations Division II final to beat Malaysia 20–17 and return Singapore to next year’s Division I tournament.
The win sees Singapore promoted to Division I after being relegated from the same competition in 2012. Singapore will be the fourth seeds in next year’s tournament alongside UAE (1), Kazakhstan (2) and Chinese Taipei (3).
The game was a close run affair throughout with the two teams separated by just two points at halftime and level at 17–all entering the game’s final five minutes.
The two sides jousted for most of the first half with Malaysia’s flyhalf Nazreen Fitri Nasaruddin slotting two penalties in the opening 30 minutes to give his side a 6–0 lead.
Singapore were the first to cross the try line with captain and lock Daniel Marc Chow pushing over from a rolling maul off a lineout at the Malaysian 5-metre line to put his side on the board. Amran’s successful conversion put Singapore ahead by one point at 7–6 before Nasruddin kicked his final penalty of the first half to help Malaysia retake the lead 9–7 at the break.
An early sin bin in the second half to Malaysia hooker Mohd Khuzaidi Abdullah gave Singapore the man-advantage which they capitalized on almost immediately as centre Blandon Tan scored Singapore’s second try of the match beneath the posts. Amran’s conversion saw Singapore lead 14–9 in the 46th minute.
Malaysia converted another long penalty attempt in the 55th minute, this time through winger Anwarful Hafiz Ahmad, to claw within two points at 12–14. In the 69th minute, Amran converted another penalty to push Singapore ahead by five points (17–12).
Not to be outdone by his counterpart, Malaysia captain Mohammad Syahir Asyraf Rosli capped off a nice flowing move with an impressive solo effort to level the scores at 17–17 with six minutes remaining.
The last moments of the game were a tense affair as both sides traded opportunities while trying to avoid giving away penalties with both sides’ kickers on-song. In the 79th minute, Malaysia’s no 8 Timoci Nacokula was sin-binned, giving Amran an opportunity to win the match for Singapore.
Despite the 1,200-strong crowd making a raucous attempt to put him off his kick, Amran calmly converted the penalty from 30 metres out and to the right of the posts to put Singapore ahead at 20–17 as the final whistle sounded.
“Full credit to Malaysia they threw everything they had at us and pushed us to the limit. But fortunately we defended well. We didn’t really execute our offense like we wanted to but we kept our nerve and full credit to Suhaimi [Amran] for keeping his nerve with that last kick,” said Singapore captain Daniel Marc Chow.
“It’s massive for us to return to Division I. We are targeting returning to the Top 5 in the next two years and I think we can achieve that. This year we had a new coaching team in place, which took a while to get used to, but I think that this win proves that it is working and we can build on this to return to the elite level in Asian rugby.
“We’re going to celebrate tonight definitely. The guys worked really hard and now we can enjoy it,” added a relieved Chow.
In the Asian 5 Nations Division III final, Qatar beat Guam 13–7 to gain promotion to next year’s Division II competition where they will face Thailand (relegated from Division I), Malaysia and Iran.
Qatar, twice winners of Division IV in Dubai (2011 and 2012), made short work of their stay in Division III after advancing from another hard-fought contest versus Guam who were appearing in their third appearance in the Division III final.
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