Temasek Poly crowned 2009 POL-ITE Rugby Champions after defeating Republic Poly

Story by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports and Pung Wei Jing. Photos by Koh Yizhe/Red Sports.

Republic Polytechnic, Thursday, October 29, 2009 - Temasek Polytechnic (TP) came back from 10 points down to beat Republic Polytechnic (RP) 33-24 in the championship match of the Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Rugby competition to clinch the title.

Both teams took to the match with a common goal – to end their season on a positive note, although their respective situations were unique. A TP win would have clinched them the first spot, leaving ITE in second and RP third.

However, RP could clinch the title on goal difference if they beat TP and held them to less than four tries.

It was a match that had all three schools on the edge of their seats.

The grandstands were divided into two sides roaring and rooting for their respective teams.

The kick-off by Muhammad Suhaimi (RP, #10) didn't clear the 10m line, resulting in a scrum with TP in possession. Though RP didn't have a great start to the match, the superb driving skills in the numerous rucks allowed RP's No. 8 Alvin Ho to score an early try with out-centre Daryl Chia (RP, #13) making a successful conversion to give RP a quick 7-0 lead.

TP didn't take long to retaliate with second row Ivan Tan (TP, #4) seizing the opportunity to score a try with most of the forward packs in the ruck. Terence Chee (TP, #12) managed to get the conversion, drawing TP level with RP at 7-7.

RP were then awarded a penalty and Daryl Chia (RP, #13) managed to clinch a three-point lead for his side. But the main highlight was RP's winger Ian Zachariah Cheong (RP, #14)'s magnificent try with the aid of Daryl Chia (RP, #13). With Daryl Chia (RP, #13) committing two TP players, he made a nice inside pass to Ian Zachariah, and it didn't take the new speedy player in the RP arsenal to out-burn the TP backline and score the try. Without question, Daryl Chia (RP, #13) made the conversion, giving RP a large 10-point lead at 17-7.

But the defending champions TP were a force to be reckoned with and it didn't take long for winger Edmund Lau (TP, #28) to seize yet another opportunity. With many men down in the ruck, Edmund picked up the ball and made a run for it to score a try. Once again Terrence Chee (TP, #28) made the conversion to make it 14-17, cutting RP's lead to just three points.

Some described the fire in TP as similar to charcoal – it takes a long time to start the fire going, but when started, it is sustained – as the defending champions went on a hot scoring spree in the second half.

Harresh Krishnan (TP, #8) got a try when he was in the right place at the right time. The oval-shaped ball bounced off the carpet grass straight into the arms of the U-20 Singapore Team captain and like a bulldozer, he made the dash and scored the try in the middle. It was just a formality for Terrance Chee (TP, #12) to make the conversion and to give TP the lead at 21-17.

RP's performance in the second half continued to fall off, and TP took advantage of this sloppiness with out-centre Wong Say Hai (TP, #13) making yet another try. Terrance Chee failed to make the conversion though, but TP still held the lead at 26-17.

But RP’s "Golden Boots" Daryl Chia (RP, #13) did not give up. The quick-witted Daryl Chia pounced on a once in a life-time opportunity when a bad-luck attempt by Paxton Ng to clear the ball hit Singapore Rugby Lion's hooker Gasper Tan (TP, #2) in the face causing it to fall straight down on the ground. Daryl Chia spooned the ball up, and made a long-lasting dash to the opponent's 22.

Daryl Chia then converted his own try to make it a two-point game at 24-26.

Daniel Ng of TP though ended any hopes of RP being the 2009 champions. Daniel made a magnificent drive straight into the heart of RP's try line, and with the aid of Terrence Chee with the conversion, TP retained the POL-ITE Ruby Championship 2009 with a 33-24 victory.

Forming a tunnel, RP's players showed great sportsmanship after losing the match, applauding TP's superb performance leading to the prize presentation.

Norazzeri, captain of second-placed ITE, commented on both teams' performances: "TP were really structured, they had the drive and TP really worked hard as a team, while RP was really giving their 101% but came out short."

Norazzeri mentioned that ITE were determined to be the champions of 2010 POL-ITE after losing 14-5 to TP.

"We are working very hard, and we are aiming to become the champions."

RP's Captain Beam Chan said: "Our boys gave their best, keeping in mind what we wanted from the start since the kick-off, but hard luck to us, we didn't manage to clinch the four tries."

Asked about the sloppy performance of RP in the second half, Beam Chan replied: "TP started out slowly, and we didn't manage to pull [ahead] further, but we did our best, especially Daryl Chia. He was really committed to the game. And to the whole team, we've come a long way."

"There's no better way to end it!" exclaim Harresh Krishnan of TP. "It never feels good to be trailing but we inspired ourselves with this quote, ‘We didn't need to be here, we CHOOSE to be here’ and we pushed each other to our limits."

"We were definitely not expecting the title!" added TP's captain Gasper Tan. "Our team is rather low profile coming into the tournament after the loss of our key players, but throughout the year, we have worked hard. Each match was a stepping stone, and we just took one match at a time, focusing on our own performance instead of our opponents."

N.B. If you know the names of the players, let us know in the comments section and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.