Referee error leaves Raffles and Greenridge tied in B Division rugby

Story and photos by REDintern Gladys Wee

Raffles Institution, Friday, March 26, 2010 – A refereeing error saw hosts Raffles Institution held to a 24-24 tie by visitors Greenridge Secondary in the second round of the National B Division Rugby Championship.

The referee missed a successful Raffles conversion and that proved to be crucial in the end for the home team.

In the first 20 minutes of the first half, possession changed hands constantly with the beep of the whistle.

Raffles finally put a stop to the aimless proceedings when Izhar (#18) scored the first try of the game for a 5-0 lead but his teammate (#22) could not convert.

After another 10 minutes, Jeremy Yew (RI #11) scored the second try, extending the lead to 10-0. This time, the RI #22 gave it all he had and converted. The referee, though, seemed more concern with his note pad and missed the conversion that was confirmed by the two flag bearers who raised their arms. Though the Raffles coach confronted the referee, he insisted that he did not see it.

Trailing 0-10 at the start of the second half, Greenridge proved worthy of their advancement to the second round when both Mohammed Islam (#6) and Azhar (#3) both stepped up and scored a try each to make it 10-10.

Undaunted by Greenridge, Matthew Tjeong (RI #13) replied with a try and Alief (RI #10) converted to give his team a 17-10 lead.

Determined to claim what they believe was rightfully theirs, a Greenridge team effort saw them edge their close to the try zone again. Iskandar (Greenridge #1) scored from a scrum and the successful conversion saw Greenridge even it up 17-17.

Though Raffles scored another try by Fahmi (#13) which Hairyl successful converted to give themselves a 24-17 lead, Greenridge came right back again to tie it up 24-24, and that was how the game ended.

While the Raffles boys felt they did not play up to their standards and could have done much better, the Greenridge team were happy with the tie.

Greenridge Captain, Shafiq commented, "We are very happy with the score. This shows us that all our hard work paid off, we had high hopes to beat Raffles, but we'd take the tie anyway."

Ed’s note: If you recognise the players, let us know their names and we’ll update the captions. Thanks.

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