Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Rebekah Abbott/Red Sports
Singapore’s Samantha Teo preparing to feed the ball into the scrum. (Photo 1 © Rebekah Abbott/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Saturday, June 6, 2015 — Singapore went down 5–31 to Thailand in their opening game in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Women’s Rugby 7s tournament, but went on to thrash Malaysia 29–0 and Laos 54–0.
It was raining when their first game started. Following a slip by a Singapore defender, Thailand’s Yusri Chitchanok (#7) broke through for the opening try. Sawatnam Tidarat (#11) converted to make it 7–0. Five minutes into the first half, Singapore’s Jeslyn Lim (#9) scored their first try to trail 5–7. Jeslyn is one of the two oldest players in the tournament at 40. Subsequently, play was interrupted due to a lightning alert.
The game resumed approximately 1 hour 45 minutes later, and Thailand wasted no time extending their lead. Chomphumee Piyamat (#6) outran two Singapore defenders to successfully score a try (12-5). Bunrak Butsaya (#10) converted to end the first half 14–5.
In the second half, Singapore had a few good runs but mis-passes cost them several scoring opportunities. On the other hand, Thailand continued with their scoring streak, scoring three more tries and one conversion to finish 31–5 winners.
Singapore faced Malaysia in their second game of the preliminaries.
Singapore took the first lead in their second game against Malaysia. Despite consecutive tackles from Malaysia, Singapore were determined to score first and Jeslyn Lim (#9) did just that to give the hosts a 5–0 lead. On a breakaway, the Singapore girls found one another with well-placed passes to bring the offense to the other side of the field, finally reaching Jeslyn (#9), resulting in her second try barely a minute after the first (10-0). Alvinia Ow Yong (#5) scored Singapore’s third try and Christabelle Lim (#6) converted to end the first half 17–0.
In the second half, Jeslyn (#9) faked a move to confuse her opponent and passed the ball to Wong Yilin (#7), who duly scored. Yilin grounded the ball and Christabelle (#6) converted to make it 24–0. Chloe Besanger (#11) then scored the final try to finish 29–0 winners.
Singapore thrashed Laos 54–0 in their final game in day one’s preliminaries. Chan Jia Yu (#8) had a game-high four tries, while Christabelle (#6) successfully made seven conversions to contribute significantly to the scoreline.
Singapore registered a 2–1 win-loss record in first day’s preliminaries and will go on to face the Philippines in their final group game on 7 June, 11.40am at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.
Singapore Roster
Alvinia Ow Yong (#1), Chua Yini (#4), Samantha Teo (#5), Derelyn Chua (#6), Angelina Liu (#7), Chan Jia Yu (#8), Jeslyn Lim (#9), Christabelle Lim (#10), Chloe Besanger (#11), Wong Yilin (#12), Lee Yi Tian (#15), Lim Li Yan (#16)
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