acsi vs st andrew's c Division rugby

St Andrew’s celebrate their C Division title triumph. (Photo 1 © Jeffrey Chiang/Red Sports)

Home Team Academy, Thursday, August 27, 2015 — St. Andrew’s Secondary defeated defending champions Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 18-15 in the final of the National C Division Rugby Championship.

ACS(I) led 12-6 at half time but saw St. Andrew’s come back twice from behind in the second half.

ACS(I) had two players sent off in quick succession during the second half and Saints took advantage of the two-man advantage to score 12 points in that period.

The Saints title win prevented ACS(I) from completing a grand slam of A, B, and C Division titles in 2015.

The match kicked off with Saints putting on the initial pressure. While the ACS(I) defence stood firm, poor discipline saw them penalised in the 10th minute. Saints kicker Ang Seow Pinn (#2) nailed the penalty to give Saints a deserved 3-0 lead.

That sparked ACS(I) into action. Good rucking and pressure saw Richard Goo (#7) score from close range to give ACS(I) a 5-3 lead. Joshua Magherra (#22) just missed the conversion to the right, leaving the score unchanged.

It was all ACS(I) after that as they started piecing moves together. A penalty lineout saw Elroy Jahja-Loo (#8) gain the ball from the base of the scrum and he spun his way around the Saints defence to score. Magherra converted this time for a 12-3 ACS(I) lead.

Just as half-time beckoned, ACS(I) went to sleep from the resultant kick-off. Two players went for the Saints kickoff, triggering a collision and the resultant series of plays saw Saints awarded a penalty some 30m out. Seow Pinn showed no nerves, sending the kick between the posts for the Saints to trail by six points (6-12) at the half.

In the second half, Saints again started stronger, and were soon awarded a penalty just 20m out and fairly central. Inexplicably, Seow Pinn pulled the kick wide, and the ACS(I) players and crowd released a collective sigh of relief.

But dodging that bullet was just the first of a cascade of events that would ultimately decide the fate of the match at the end of the day.

First, a team yellow card was shown to Richard Goo of ACS(I) for persistent offsides. Within the minute and with Saints banging on the ACS(I) try line, a second yellow card was shown to Shenn Tan for a high tackle in front of the posts.

Down to 13 players, ACS(I) could not stop the next bullet, with Saints finding the now-massive gaps in the defence, scoring a converted try through Seow Pinn for a 13-12 Saints lead.

From the kick-off, a rare transgression from Saints saw ACS(I) win a rare penalty. Joshua Magherra banged home the penalty for a 15-13 ACS(I) lead with his team still two players down.

With 10 minutes left on the clock, ACS(I) lost possession of the ball in midfield, and from their lineout, they allowed James Leow (#19) to break though on the blind side to score the go-ahead try for an 18-15 lead. Seow Pinn missed the conversion for Saints, which meant there was still everything to play for.

With the last throw of the dice, ACS(I) went forward in search of an equaliser or even a try to win the game. With two minutes left on the clock, ACS(I) were awarded a penalty 30m out, and they went for broke and kicked to the corner for a line-out.

The lineout was pulled down by Shenn, who was by then back in the action, and the ball swung out to Elroy, who was brought down just a few metres from the line. However, on the next phase, the ACS(I) forwards lost control of the ball and knocked it on, extinguishing their hopes.

The referee blew for full time soon after, sparking a roar of delight from the Saints crowd who rushed on to the pitch to congratulate their gallant warriors, while the boys in gold and blue looked on in gloom as they wondered what could have been.

“We were not giving up,” said Saints captain, Umar bin Mohamed Sha’ari (#12), about trailing 6-12 at half time. “We kept calm and played our game. We weren’t down and were confident we would win the game.”

The Saints captain was well defended by ACS(I) but it was he who created the gap that led to the winning try.

“There was a gap created by Umar and I managed to score the try. I feel really happy,” said James Leow, who notched five tries in total in a season that saw the Saints go undefeated in all seven matches.

Result
St. Andrew’s 18 ACS(I) 15

Try Scorers
St. Andrew’s
Ang Seow Pinn (#2) (Converted by himself)
James Leow (#19)

ACS(I)
Richard Goo (#7)
Elroy Jahja-Loo (#8) (Converted by Joshua Magherra)

St. Andrew’s Roster
Lum Weisiong, Jeremy (#1), Ang Seow Pinn (#2), Dimayuga Dylan Gabriel (#3), Chua Wei Li (#4), Clemen Liau Guo Yu (#5), Chong Dillion (#6), James Haaris Batt (#7), Lee Sze Yong Benjamin (#8), Brennan Ng Zheng Yang (#9), Morgan Owain Rhys (#10), Syamininurdhami B K (#11), Umar B Mohamed Sha’ari (#12), Renald Lim Sheng Yew (#13), Miguel Erwin Besoro William (#14), Khairil Ridzuan B Zulkilfee (#15), Brendon Pang Jun Ming (#16), Brandon Tan Yu Xuan (#17), Nigel Lim Fang Xiang (#18), James Leow Tze Ning (#19), Julian Leow Tze An (#20), Aidil Ryan B Muhammad Affenddy (#21), Mika’il Yue B Istiandra (#22), Mohamad Irfan B Mohamad Nassir (#23), Dylan Tay Hao Yi (#24), Daryl Liau Guo Zhi (#25), Ethan Lee Junxian (#26), Kremer Alexander Han Lin (#27), Mohammad Putra Wafaa B R (#28)

ACS(I) Roster
Elijah Ho Teng Loong (#1), Ira Teh Jia Le (#2), Ang Wei Sheng, Bryan (#3), Joshua Tan Kai Shenn (#5), Reuben Sivadas Ruixian (#6), Richard Goo Zheng Wei (#7), Elroy Irwan Jahja-Loo (#8), Khoo Shen Yi, Stuart Dylan (#9), Teng Ivan, Lucas (#10), Goh Jing Hao Timothy (#11), Aran James Willetts (#12), Finan Siow (#13), Jason Tan Jun Hao (#14), Sean Tan Jun Kai (#15), Chang You-Sheng, Ethan (#16), Kwan Ean Fung, Ian (#17), Ong Li-Sheng (#18), Sean Ng Shi Wen (#19), Lim Dao Yuan Matthew (#20), Andrius Wong Jun Long (#21), Joshua Amarjeet Magherra (#22), Huang Jing Yu (#23), Tan Soon Kang, William (#24), Tan Jern Yu Timothy (#26), Lim Hongxi (#28), Muhammad Aiman B Mohammad Azhar (#32), Muhammad Kiane Rashidale (#36), Timothy Chan (#45)

National C Division Rugby Championship — Fixtures and results

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