The Saint Chronicles

Thursday, April 13, 2006

April 13, 2006
ST ANDREW'S TITLE
Penalties win it for Saints

Robert's kicking completes school's treble, but leaves ACS (I) in tears
By Chan Yi Shen

ST ANDREW'S Secondary School completed a memorable treble by winning the Schools National B division rugby title for the third straight year yesterday.

VICTORY: St Andrew's boys celebrate their victory over ACS (I) in the Schools' B Division rugby final (above), and their supporters do their utmost to lift the team during the game (below).

They accomplished their mission before some 1,000 cheering Saints supporters at the Home Team Academy Stadium, beating bitter rivals Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) 12-7 in the final.

There were emotional scenes at the final whistle with both sets of players crying.

For the Saints, the tears represented joy. For the ACSians, they represented pain.

It hurt because they fell to the same opponents for the third year running.

Robert Lim was the Saints' hero yesterday. He kicked three penalties, including two in the second half, which helped to overturn a 6-7 half-time deficit.

Said a jubilant Robert: 'Even when I missed one kick in the second half, I never thought that we were going to lose. We were really determined to win this one.'

ACS entered the game looking confident. They had won all their matches by at least 50 points.

Despite the keenly contested match, much of the attention before the game had been on incidents off the field. Two ACS players were banned following an ill-tempered match against St Joseph's Institution last month.

One was handed a six-match suspension for stamping on an opponent's head, and another was banned for two years for biting an SJI player.

The two-year ban, believed to be the longest handed out to a schools player, divided public opinions as to whether it was justified.

Yesterday, about 2,000 supporters from both schools, including students, principals, teachers, family and friends, were on the sidelines to lend support. The Choa Chu Kang location did not deter them. Many had made their way there by chartered buses.

ACS took advantage of the B division Under-17 age ruling to include eight Year 5 integrated programme students in the team. St Andrew's fielded two Sec 5 players.

-- ALBERT SIM
Fired up by their pre-match Haka dance, St Andrew's took the match to their rivals.

Their game-plan was simple: To kick for touch and rely on their powerful forwards to drive forward.

Led by teacher-cum-cheerleader Ng Chee Keong, the Saints' supporters screamed their lungs out. Every scrum was accompanied by cheers of 'Push, Saints, push.'

A penalty from Robert opened the scoring and the Saints doubled their advantage with a drop-goal from Daryl Chia.

ACS, whose plan was to run the ball, replied with a well-worked try by Jonathan Jacob. Captain Blandon Tan converted to give ACS a 7-6 half-time lead.

That set the stage for Robert to seal victory for St Andrew's with two well-taken penalties.

Said a disappointed Blandon: 'Everyone was focused and confident. But we missed the two banned players as they were key to our play. '

yishen@sph.com.sg

stan
UPDATED @ 9:39 PM

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