Saints’ last-gasp victory

SINGAPORE — While both sides are a year older, St Andrew’s Secondary School’s rugby players showed they were that bit quicker, wiser, and possibly luckier as well, than their counterparts from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent).

At the Physical Sports and Education branch’s Evans Road campus yesterday morning, St Andrew’s edged ACS(I) 21-18 to clinch the Singapore National Schools “B” Division under-17 Rugby Championship crown in a final that was twice postponed last week due to poor weather.

Most of the players from both sides also featured in last year’s nail-biting “C” Division under-15 final, which St Andrew’s won 14-13 after leading 14-0.

Yesterday’s final, where the remaining 25 minutes of the 60-minute match was played out — last Tuesday’s encounter was stopped due to lightning after 35 minutes with St Andrew’s leading 11-8 — was not short on drama either.

ACS(I) were leading 18-14 with two minutes left, after flanker Jason Goh’s two tries cancelled out a penalty by Saints captain Viviyan Philip.

However, a penalty try edged St Andrew’s 19-18 ahead after ACS(I) were penalised for repeated offside, before Viviyan’s subsequent conversion completed the Saints’ dramatic win, which avenged their 10-8 defeat in last year’s final.

“The postponement of the match was frustrating for all the players as it broke the momentum and demanded a certain finesse,” said Viviyan, a Secondary 3 student.

“For us, we had the stamina to not only win the match, but to do so in style as we came from behind in the dying minutes to seal it. The teams were quite evenly matched, but the side that was better prepared mentally and physically for a match delayed for almost a week won.”

Despite the painful loss, there were no complaints from ACS(I) over the referee’s awarding of the penalty try after he ruled they were offside multiple times at the ruck in spite of repeated warnings.

“I do not want to comment on the referee, nor any officials because it is not my concern, and I think the scoreboard does not lie,” said ACS(I) coach Rhys Jones. “It was a gutsy call by him (referee), but we lost to a better team that was more composed and made less mistakes.”

With the “B” Division crown in the bag, St Andrew’s next priority is to defend their National Schools “A” and “C” Division rugby titles later this year.

Said the Saints’ head of physical education and co-curricular activities George Danapal: “This win is a good start to the rugby season for the school, and we will celebrate for now and think about the rest of the division matches later.”