Story by Jiexin Neo/Red Sports. Photos by Laura Lee and Rebekah Abbott/Red Sports
Singapore beat Cambodia 36–0 in their first game. (Photo 1 © Laura Lee/Red Sports)
Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Saturday, June 6, 2015 — Singapore thrashed Cambodia 36–0 in their opening game in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games rugby 7s tournament. They then went down 0–17 to Philippines, and brought down arch rivals Malaysia 14–5 to end off the preliminaries for day one.
Singapore’s Nicholas Yau (#6) scored the opening try against Cambodia, and Naresh Kunasegaran (#11) sealed the conversion to give Singapore a 7–0 lead. Bryan Ng (#12) then scored the second try for Singapore, which Naresh (#11) converted to put the hosts ahead 14–0. Nicholas then scored another try to conclude the first half 19–0.
In the second half, the ball was right before Samuel Teo (#10) and his defender, and he seized the scoring opportunity by kicking it forward and then outrunning his defender to score his first try (24–0). Midway through, a scrum brought the ball to the other side of the field, where Samuel (#10) attacked the weak side to score a try. Naresh (#11) then converted to make it 31–0.
In the last play, Samuel (#10) beat his defenders again with good footwork and then passed off the ball to Blandon Tan (#1), who grounded the ball to seal a 36-0 victory for Singapore.
Singapore were up against Philippines in their second game of the preliminaries. Philippines took the first lead when Everingham Andrew Stephen (#20) scored a try two minutes into the game. He scored another one shortly after despite Singapore’s valiant efforts at defence (0–10).
In the second half, Singapore stepped up on their defence and successfully forced a couple of turnovers, but Philippines denied their runs. In the last play, Philippines’ Hitch Christopher (#8) grounded the ball to give Philippines a 15–0 lead. Gareth Holgate (#5) converted to seal the game 17–0.
Singapore faced arch rivals Malaysia in their final game for day one’s preliminaries.
Singapore trailed one minute into the game when Malaysia’s Zanul Abdin (#10) scored the first try. Then on, Singapore contested vigorously for the lead, taking their chances one at a time. The home crowd spurred the team on and they got more aggressive as time ticked away.
In the final play in the first half, Singapore capitalized on team effort, finally reaching Blandon (#1) with the ball. He raced to successfully ground the ball despite being chased by a Malaysian player all the way to the try line, where he touched down. Naresh (#11) converted to give Singapore a much needed 7–5 lead going into the halftime break.
Daniel Marc Chow (#4), Singapore’s captain, commented, “We knew we took a slim lead going into the second half, and we talked about game management, trying to control the game where time is concerned, and make full use of the opportunities that we have. I think that’s exactly what we did and we managed to pull away to quite a good victory.”
In the second half, both teams alternated at possession, eager to score first. Singapore’s scoring opportunity came when Malaysia’s Muhammad Faridzal (#4) was given a bench penalty. Having the man advantage, Singapore stayed focused and found Samuel (#10) who went on to score the deciding try. Moehammad Marah (#9) converted to make it 14–5 with one minute remaining in regulation.
In the final play, Malaysia went all-out, desperately looking for a try, but Derek Chan (#7) stopped a run to ice the game at 14–5.
On their performance in the first day of the preliminaries today, Daniel said, “We were actually targeting to win three games today, but unfortunately we fell short in the Philippines game. The Malaysia game is always a big game for us because we know they’re pretty strong and, we always have a causeway rivalry with them, so it was one of the key games and we’re really happy to win.”
“I think we have good chances to get to the finals right now, and we’ll definitely learn from this afternoon’s game with Philippines. We’ll have a good study about them and I think we’ll come back much stronger in the game,” added Daniel.
Singapore registered a 2–1 win-loss record on the first day and will go on to face Thailand and Laos in their remaining preliminary games on June 7, 10.50am and 12.30pm, at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.
Singapore Roster
Blandon Tan (#1), Jonathan Lee (#2), Ho Yi Shu (#3), Daniel Marc Chow (#4), Muhammad Zaki (#5), Derek Chan (#6), Bryan Ng (#7), Marah Moehammad Hoessein Marah (#8), Max Ducourneau (#9), Samuel Teo (#10), Naresh Kunasegaran (#11), Nicholas Yau (#12)
2015 SEA Games – fixtures and results
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