National B Div Rugby: Saints beat ACS (Barker) 22-0 to enter final

By Gladys Wee

A St Andrew’s player braces for the tackle from ACS(BR). (Photo 1 © Rich Seow. Used with permission.)

Republic Polytechnic, Tuesday, March 27, 2012 — St Andrew’s Secondary School beat Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) 22-0 to seal their place in the final of the National B Division Rugby Championship.

The result also meant that there will not be an ACS team in the final of a B Division rugby championship since 1996. ACS (Independent) had lost 12-13 to Raffles Institution in the earlier semi-final played on Monday, March 26th.

St Andrew’s came into the game on the back of finishing second in the table with a 6-win, 1-draw, 0-loss record while ACS(BR) had finished behind them in third with a 5-0-2 record.

The game started with great intensity both on and off field, with the players and supporters of both teams giving it all they got.

After 10 minutes of scrums and line outs, Samuel Koh passed the ball to Adriel Toh (SA #2) who broke through the line after fending off two players to score the first try of the game. The conversion was unsuccessful and the score remained at 5-0.

Fuelled with the desire to even the score, ACS(BR) came back in full force against Saints but an ACS(BR) high tackle gave Saints a penalty. The Saints kicker missed the shot but Wilson Chan caught the ball and ran to the try line to score the second try of the match.

With the successful conversion, Saints led 12-0 till the end of the first half.

The second half proved equally as exciting. Running past the ACS(BR) defence, Jeromy Chua scored the third try of the game to set the supporters going again in the stands. The try was unconverted and Saints led 17-0.

ACS(BR) tried hard to fight back but found themselves pushed all the way back to their try line. To make things worse for them, Saints were awarded a penalty near the 5m mark and instead of going for the kick, Adriel took possession of the ball and smashed through to score the final try of the match.

A lightning risk alert sent all the players into shelter, but with only three minutes left on the clock, the referee ended the match and St Andrew’s will now play underdogs Raffles Institution in the final at Republic Polytechnic on Thursday, April 5th, at 5pm.

ACS(BR) will face off against ACS(I) at the same venue on April 2nd for the 3rd/4th playoff at 3:15pm.

National B Division Rugby Championship — full fixtures and results