report contributed by Audrey Koh
The 6th annual Victoria Bitters Women's National Rugby Championships kicked off with a bang with 5 local teams from Blacks, Singapore Recreation Club and Bucks Rugby way out west at Pioneer Secondary School on a balmy Saturday afternoon.
The first game between Blacks A and Bucks shelled out the first red-card in the Women's game since its inception 11 years ago, with Eunice Tay taking the honours in an adrenaline-charged match that saw the Blacks A team scoring 2 late tries after being 1 try down and down to 6 women. Blacks A won that encounter 12-5.
SRC A also had a slow start to their campaign, winning against Blacks B 17-5 in their first game, and drawing 10-10 with Bucks in their second, but coming back strong against their B team 33 - 0. Tries by Nicholina Chua, Koh Mei Giet, Angela Zheng and Sophie Gollifer, all novices to the 7s game, indicates an increase in depth of talent to the SRC pool of players. Bucks used their strength and physical prowess to easily overcome their next few opposition, smashing SRC B 27 - 0, and Blacks B 29 - 5, with the tries coming from Rebecca Gaughan and Gena Brantmark.
The second last match of the day saw Blacks B needing to salvage some pride against SRC B, with both teams losing all their games so far. Azurah Bte Mohd Khalid from Blacks B drew the first blood in the 3rd minute when she scored from a ruck 5 meters out. Marlina Kasbi from SRC responded 4 minutes later with a run down the left to put the ball in between the posts. A successful conversion by SRC saw them with a slim lead 7-5 at half-time. At the restart, Suryanti Suryono intercepted a loose ball, side-stepped 2 defenders and ran 50 meters to score SRC B's second try. Blacks B put the pressure on SRC B when they started to lose concentration after that try, with the forwards piling on the mauls down the right flank. Ailei Tandean scored Blacks B's second try 5 minutes into the 2nd half, but they failed to convert. With time running out, both sides got increasingly edgy, but SRC B managed to keep their composure, capitalised on a loose ball in the ruck, and Chrislin Lee scored the final try of the game, sealing victory over Blacks B 21 - 10.
By now the spectators were highly anticipating the last matchup of the day, between Blacks A and SRC A. The latter started out strong, pushing back the advance from the centre, but Blacks has the burst and speed of Derelyn Chua on the wings, which she used it to secure 2 tries. Even with SRC captain Boo Hui Min rallying her troops, it wasn't enough to stop Wang Shao Ing and Serena Yeoh from exploiting the holes in the defence to score 2 more tries.
Blacks A emerged Champions once again, with Bucks RFC taking the silver, but the winners were all the new players that tasted Club Rugby 7s for the first time, and came out with a better understanding of the game. With tours coming up end of March (7s) and May (15s) the future bodes well for Singapore Rugby.
See VB WNRC 7s Results
The 6th annual Victoria Bitters Women's National Rugby Championships kicked off with a bang with 5 local teams from Blacks, Singapore Recreation Club and Bucks Rugby way out west at Pioneer Secondary School on a balmy Saturday afternoon.
The first game between Blacks A and Bucks shelled out the first red-card in the Women's game since its inception 11 years ago, with Eunice Tay taking the honours in an adrenaline-charged match that saw the Blacks A team scoring 2 late tries after being 1 try down and down to 6 women. Blacks A won that encounter 12-5.
SRC A also had a slow start to their campaign, winning against Blacks B 17-5 in their first game, and drawing 10-10 with Bucks in their second, but coming back strong against their B team 33 - 0. Tries by Nicholina Chua, Koh Mei Giet, Angela Zheng and Sophie Gollifer, all novices to the 7s game, indicates an increase in depth of talent to the SRC pool of players. Bucks used their strength and physical prowess to easily overcome their next few opposition, smashing SRC B 27 - 0, and Blacks B 29 - 5, with the tries coming from Rebecca Gaughan and Gena Brantmark.
The second last match of the day saw Blacks B needing to salvage some pride against SRC B, with both teams losing all their games so far. Azurah Bte Mohd Khalid from Blacks B drew the first blood in the 3rd minute when she scored from a ruck 5 meters out. Marlina Kasbi from SRC responded 4 minutes later with a run down the left to put the ball in between the posts. A successful conversion by SRC saw them with a slim lead 7-5 at half-time. At the restart, Suryanti Suryono intercepted a loose ball, side-stepped 2 defenders and ran 50 meters to score SRC B's second try. Blacks B put the pressure on SRC B when they started to lose concentration after that try, with the forwards piling on the mauls down the right flank. Ailei Tandean scored Blacks B's second try 5 minutes into the 2nd half, but they failed to convert. With time running out, both sides got increasingly edgy, but SRC B managed to keep their composure, capitalised on a loose ball in the ruck, and Chrislin Lee scored the final try of the game, sealing victory over Blacks B 21 - 10.
By now the spectators were highly anticipating the last matchup of the day, between Blacks A and SRC A. The latter started out strong, pushing back the advance from the centre, but Blacks has the burst and speed of Derelyn Chua on the wings, which she used it to secure 2 tries. Even with SRC captain Boo Hui Min rallying her troops, it wasn't enough to stop Wang Shao Ing and Serena Yeoh from exploiting the holes in the defence to score 2 more tries.
Blacks A emerged Champions once again, with Bucks RFC taking the silver, but the winners were all the new players that tasted Club Rugby 7s for the first time, and came out with a better understanding of the game. With tours coming up end of March (7s) and May (15s) the future bodes well for Singapore Rugby.
See VB WNRC 7s Results
No comments:
Post a Comment