Contributed by reader

Republic Polytechnic, Monday, October 26, 2009 – Temasek Polytechnic beat the Institute of Technical Education 14-5 in a Polytechnic-Institute of Technical Education (POL-ITE) Rugby Championship game.

Both teams came into this match knowing a win was a must if they wanted to fulfill their title ambitions. For ITE a victory will crown them POL-ITE champions. For TP a win will put them on top of the POL-ITE leaderboard with one more game to play.

With hoards of people/supporters coming to watch this match, many didn’t leave disappointed. The match promising to be an exciting one, both teams showing why it was.

From the kick off, ITE pinned TP inside their 22 for a very long period. TP finally conceded a penalty just right inside their 22 and right in front of the post. ITE opting to kick for goal. However, #10 Hisam pushed his kicked just to the left of the uprights to leave the scoreline unchanged.

From the resulting drop-out, ITE pinned TP back inside their 22. This time they scored a try through captain and #15 Azzeri after long
standing pressure. He broke though weak TP defence after getting a good pass off the scrum to score to the right of the uprights. The
conversion was missed to leave the score at 5-0.

TP was down to 14 men when captain and #2 Gaspar Tan shouted at the refree after a bad call by the refree and was given a yellow card for being dissent. ITE had another chance to extend their lead minutes later, but they missed this golden opportunity with another penalty from a similar spot to their first one. This time through captain Azzeri.

ITE then went into the break holding a 5-0 lead.

The half time talk from TP’s coach Mohd Ismail prove to be the turning point as TP came up firing in the second half. Camping inside ITE’s half for almost the whole 2nd period. With the midfield pairing of #10 Jo and #12 Terence pinning ITE back with excellent kicks.

TP then scored a great try through their blind wing. After placing another kick inside ITE’s 22 by TP’s #12 Terence, ITE cleared the ball straight into arms of the waiting winger who beat a few defenders to score to the left of the uprights. The conversion by #12 Terence was good. TP leading 7-5 for the first time.

From the resulting kick off, TP pinned ITE back into their own half after some good play from brothers Harresh and Vicki Krishnan. The match was mostly played inside ITE’s half, and after holding out for tremendous periods, TP scored their 2nd try. This time after a brilliant box kick from #12 Terence. ITE allowed the ball to bounce and TP’s #11 caught the ball before sprinting away for the try. The conversion was converted by Terence and TP led 14-5.

The match ended this way after good TP defence thwarted any ITE attacks on them.

This results means TP will just need a draw in the tournament’s final match against hosts RP on thursday to defend their 2008 title. ITE will need TP to beat or draw against RP to finish in 2nd place, and RP will no doubt have to win to have a chance of getting the gold.