Contributed by reader Paul Kung
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.
tomorrow’s the big day for the teams still in the hunt for the Cup and Plate competitions. for me, the Plate semis at ccab will be the highlight. pjc v cjc and jjc v nyjc. all the teams have good rugby backgrounds. both jjc and nyjc were ever ranked in the Top 4 before the Plate competition was introduced in 2005. cjc met pjc in the first plate finals in 2005 and cjc won. pjc met jjc in the plate finals in 2006 and pjc won. in 2006 it was jjc v cjc and jjc won. looks like the plate competition has become the grand prize for the colleges outside the Top 4. so far, no college has won the plate twice or back to back. if any of the three colleges (pjc, nyjc and cjc) win it this year, they will be the first college to win the plate twice. if jjc wins, they will be the first college to successfully defend the plate championship. if pjc or cjc qualifies for the finals, they will be the first college to appear in 3 out of 4 plate finals. a lot is at stake for these colleges. winning the plate or even qualifying for the finals may mean a higher profile for the sport in their respective colleges and hopefully this will translate into attracting more students to play the sport. to the players from pjc, cjc, jjc and nyjc, i salute you for your sportsmanship and fighting spirit. you have played your hearts out against the Top 4 teams in your groups and demonstrated the willingness to give your best even though the odds were stacked against you. that’s the true spirit of rugby.
i agree with Not Acsian and Supporter. what do you achieve by dissing players online like that. chill bro. rugby is rugby at the end of the day and everyone just plays to enjoy. look at the attitude of the players from the non top 4 schools.they arent complaining because they get beaten heavily by them.they are are so passionate about the sport. kudos to all you ruggers out there. im sure if you all play well national team will call you up!
HAHAHA thats very funny. so it is true that tim han was stomping. and NOT ACSIAN if ACJC commented wrongly. why is that so? what would you have said to timhan. VERY GOOD TIM HAN. is that what your going to say? not reprimand him but instead praise him. is that so? why so defendsive? i support what ACJC commented.
yes obviously ACJC is someone who anyhow commented. but i feel that he or she has made a point that tim han has done something terribly wrong by stomping which is nothing to be proud of
Please do not frame other schools by using there names and posting comments. Do have some integrity.
ACJC, you are not from ACS family. Acsian will not comment in this manner.Pls be a gentleman.
SRU ppl dont watch plates? hmmm
dont fight over here guys! let the action packed semis unfold on 5th may! SRU people will be watching! so play well and you may get a chance to represent singapore at age group level! all the best to everyone taking part in the Adiv this year! Be it plate competition or cup competition,rugby is the winner always!
‘See u on the FIELD on 5th MAY RAFFLES. and lets hope this time the better team does win.;)’
I disagree with this statement. To say that the better team lost last year is simply being a sore loser. A loss is a loss. Move on.
Tim han is a disgrace and i hope he gets punished severely. AND he never had rock solid defence. In 2006 he got smashed by saints out centre during B divsion ACS barker VS SAS. SAS beat them 22-5. SO i hope that tim han gets banned and he should be ashamed of himself for being such having such unruly behavior. Even though im form AC i am very ashamed of him. I have faith in saints that it will be a very tough fight for AC. May the best team wins. GO AC! GO SAINTS GO SAINTS!
jjc vs nyjc and cjc vs pjc at ccab this fri. from 3pm onwards
friday ccab, cjc vs pjc and jjc vs nyjc. starts at 3pm and 430 respectively if im not wrong
thats a quite decent coverage of the plates competition. This Fri would be a epic battle between Pjc and Cjc. It would be do or die and considerably one of the most important match of the two schools. Cjc have the experience while Pjc has considerable talent in the squad. It will be held at CCAB and i hope that there would be coverage over the upcoming fixtures.
As the website editor, I agree too. Please send in stories regarding the plate competitions because there is more to rugby than just the top four schools.
You send it, we post it.
PJ AGAINST JJ is a derby game. hope both make it to finals. wanna see em do battle. VERY EVENLY MATCHED
I AGREE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT DUDE! the plates should have the same coverage. those players are sometimes more passionate about the games that others. its obvious.
i have a few friends in pjc rugby and they told me pjc has been sharing their pitch with greenridge cos greenridge now undergoing upgrading so no field available. my friend in pjc says that pjc coach/teacher-in-charge was ex-chinese high boy and the greenridge coach used to coach chinese high…so they collaborate and share facilities, but so far, the greenridge boys don’t end up in pjc. only got one greenridge boy in last year’s team but he was never in rugby before. heard he was in MI for 1 year before he transfer to pjc. think he was from china. jjc and pjc every year meet in various stages of the competition. they have very strong rivalry but both the teams respect each other cos a lot of them come from the same secondary school in the west zone. the jjc and pjc games are like Man U and Man City or Liverpool and Everton derby games. the problem with neighbourhood jcs is that rugby has a hard time getting players every year. when the jc2 players step down after the A-div competition, the jc1s are only about 15 to 20 players left. then have to wait until the next year when the new jc1s enter then they can get a few more players. but after 1st intake, students come and go, then have to recruit new players from 2nd intake. hopefully, next year when only 1 intake, things will be better for them. a lot of parents also don’t like the child to play rugby. say its very rough and easy to get injured.
it’s a pity that the plate competition is not getting the kind of coverage like the cup competition. i think it would be nice if both the plate and cup finals are played at the padang or HTA. it would help to boost the game at the neighbourhood jc level. otherwise everytime people mention rugby, it’s always the Top 4 schools.
if im not wrong, he was guilty of deliberately stepping on the face of an nyjc player. not sure wat position doh
i heard from friends that tim han of acjc has been banned for the season. anyone knows why? acjc will miss his solid defence down the sides.
If raffles think they have a chance against us, then we will be looking for a tough fight. havent had one this season. especially after beating the other teams by 80 points and jjc by 108points. Saints were the only one tht were actually threatening for one half, so ACJC should step up early to win them. See u on the FIELD on 5th MAY RAFFLES. and lets hope this time the better team does win.;)