Contributed by reader Paul Kung

rugbysignpost1

It was a great weekend of schools rugby last week, as the top four teams in the A Division Championship battled it out for semi-final standings. With roughly a week and a half to the semi-finals, the top four will relish the time to regroup and train harder to vie for that Padang invitation which has been confirmed for May 12, 2008.

St Andrew’s Junior College versus Anglo-Chinesse Junior Colllege, the ACS (Independent) boys versus Raffles Junior College - what a mouth watering May 5 it will be at the Old Police Academy. All four teams are loaded with players that have ‘big game' experience, and it looks to be the best round of schoolboy rugby so far this A Division season.

Saints simply ran out of gas against ACS (Independent) in their final pool game, and they suffered a lost at the hands of ACJC when the two teams met recently in the ISSAC tournament a couple months ago. Word on the street is that they have spent too much time on astro and too little time on the ‘real' thing. ACJC have looked rugged and determined in recent games, and coming off a win over the defending champions RJC will certainly raise their spirits.

Look for ACS (Ind) to out-run and out-shove Raffles into a Padang date. Nothing fancy about the 2008 version of the ACS machine, just simple basic skills, great conditioning and rock solid defense. They do at times depend too much on key players to carry the load, and that might be something Raffles will exploit. The Raffles team young with great team spirit, and are hungry to do the green and black due justice. Rough memory recalls that they have not missed a final date in the A Division for about 10 years now (might be more) and they most certainly are not going to let 2008 be that year.

So with no schools rugby this weekend, what is one to do? Well there is always club rugby. Yes, club rugby is making a return this weekend with the National Rugby Championship 7s to be held at Yio Chu Kang stadium. 12 teams will be entering, and with the debut of the Asian Tigers, a new club, it certainly promises to be a great tournament. A few 7s gems were unearthed in 2007, and with the National 7s team looking for 2008 Rugby world cup 7s qualification, this will certainly be the place to show it.

Have a great week and see you guys on 5 May.