Story by Iman Hashim/Red Sports. Photos by Les Tan/Red Sports.
RI celebrate their opening try. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Evans Road, Friday, May 13, 2016 — Raffles Institution (RI) overcame a spirited Saint Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC) 11-5 to move on to their first National A Division Rugby Championship final in three years.
Going into this semi-final, RI had a 5-1 win-loss record in the preliminary round while SAJC’s was 4-2. Both teams had lost to Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) [ACS(I)] while RI defeated SAJC 30-3 just four days earlier in their preliminary round fixture.
Bouncing back from that defeat, the Saints appeared the hungrier and grittier side as they pegged RI back in their own half for most of the opening exchanges. RI had the bigger-framed players, but SAJC had speedier players such as Timothy Teo (SAJC #12) and Goh Jie-En (SAJC #11).
RI also suffered a huge blow in the first few minutes as captain Ivar Johann Lassesen (RI #6) was brought off injured.
The best try-scoring opportunity in the first half, though, fell to RI just before the half-time whistle. After a good team move passing the ball down the line to the right flank, fly-half Harish Rai (RI #10) managed to evade a few tackles mere metres from the try-line. Alas, instead of going for the try himself, he opted to pass the ball out right to teammate Anwar Kamarul-Zaman (RI #11) who missed the catch.
The score remained at 0-0 going into the second half.
After the shaky opening half, RI came back more determined from the restart as they surged forward repeatedly into Saints’ 22-yard line. From an SAJC line-out on RI’s left flank, RI managed to steal possession of the ball and it was just maul after maul thereafter in an attempt to get the ball over the try-line.
Harish (RI #10) had another great opportunity when he received the ball on the left flank just before the try-line, but it slipped off his hands and the referee subsequently ruled it a knock-on.
10 minutes into the second half, RI finally earned their reward. From a scrum on the right side of field, lock Fabien Wee (RI #8) received the ball and tried powering himself over the try-line, but found himself on top of a Saints player. After another maul was formed, hooker Muhammad Syazwan (RI #2) this time managed to touch the ball down for the try.
Centre Christopher Mak (RI #23) missed the conversion, leaving the RI lead at 5–0.
In the few minutes after the try, RI continued looking comfortable as they rallied forward for more. Then in a sudden turnover of possession, Timothy Teo (SAJC #12) intercepted a careless RI pass and went on a lung-busting sprint from his own half all the way to the other end, as onrushing RI players failed to keep up.
The Saints faithful erupted in euphoria as Timothy went down for the try to tie it up at 5-5. Delvon Anand (SAJC #9) failed to convert.
It became a tense affair as both sets of supporters tried rallying their team on from the stands. Eventually, the contest was decided by two RI penalties by full-back Ryan Leong (RI #15) in the last 10 minutes, both for offside calls.
For the first penalty, the ball initially bounced off the upright before going through the posts, to relieved cheers from the Raffles supporters.
Ryan then stepped up to kick the second penalty five minutes from time, making it 11-5.
Aware that a converted try could still snatch victory, SAJC desperately surged forward in the final few minutes, as RI had to put up a tenacious team effort in defense as the clock ticked down.
The referee eventually blew the full-time whistle, cueing rapturous celebrations from the Raffles faithful. In contrast, tears flowed among the Saints players as they took a bow in front of their loyal supporters who applauded them for their spirited showing.
On his post-match thoughts, stand-in RI captain Harish (#10) said, “I’m very proud of my team’s performance, because from the start in the first five minutes, we lost our captain (Ivar, to injury). It took a lot of heart and character to get the job done. We had a shaky start to the game, we had many try-scoring opportunities early in the game but we were not clinical enough to finish them up.”
“We were held scoreless at half-time, we even let them in many times, but then we fought hard and came back and got the win. It’s also the first time we made the final in quite a long time so I’m very proud of the boys,” he continued.
In the final, RI will face two-time defending champions ACS(I), who easily defeated Anglo-Chinese Junior College 45-5 in the other semi-final.
When asked about his team’s mentality going into the final, Harish added, “It’s all positive, everyone is feeling positive. It’s the first time in six years as a batch – from Sec 1 until now – that we are having a crack at the final, so it’s going to be a different ball game, different atmosphere. I think we’ll just go there, be positive, and we believe we can get the job done.”
The final will take place at 4pm on Thursday, May 19, at the Physical & Sports Education Branch (PESEB) field.
Score By Half
RI vs SAJC
1st Half: 0-0
2nd Half: 11-5
RI Roster
Ivar Johann Lassesen (#6), Fang Juntao (#1), Koh Teng Chun (#4), Hu Kewei (#26), Christopher Mak Jun-Min (#23), Sean Lee Ren Yi (#20), Harish Rai (#10), Isaac Goh Tze Hng (#9), Zhu Hong Yi (#13), Hazim B Fathul Rahman (#29), Brandon Yeo Xuan Zhi (#18), Nicholas Wong Hoi Pong (#21), Richie Chan Yun Xue (#7), Nathanael Muk Chen Han (#17), Anwar B Kamarul-Zaman (#11), Jeff Chen Yong Jie (#25), Ryan Leong Lup Mun (#15), Kasim B Abdul Razak (#14), Muhammad Adil Akmal B Jailani (#3), Muhammad Syazwan B Ramli (#2), Fabien Wee Rui-An (#8), Tan Wei Han, Soh Qi Xu, Zakir Nasruddin B Zairul A, Muhammad Fa’iz B Bakhtiar
SAJC Roster
Markus Tan (#1), Daniel Sin (#2), Khaizuran Khairin (#3), Bryan Chen (#4), Norman Wee (#5), Ong Wei Sheng (#6), Sean Shepherd (#7), Gabriel Koh (#8), Delvon Anand Jose Charles (#9), Riley Shannan Liew (#10), Goh Jie-En (#11), Timothy Teo (#12), Gregory Png (#13), Rainer Kam (#14), Then Sean Yuan Benjamin (#15), Chia Shao Xian (#16), Goh Kai Ming (#17), Isaac Tan (#18), Yeo Hung Kye (#19), Lin Yu (#20), Kim Jae Pyong (#21), Ip Pierre Gregory (#22), Shin Yong Hee (#23), Keith Tan (#24), Ethan Wong (#25), Timothy Lim (#26), Sui Yi Qiang (#27), Sean Cheng (#30)
National A Division Rugby Championship – fixtures and results
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