Inaugural Singapore A Mark Their Debut With Win

8 September 2009
by Wang Shao Ing

The inaugural Singapore Women’s A 15s team came out victors in their first match against Malaysia Barbarians last Saturday at the Royal Selangor Club grounds.

Captained by Sim Chiew Hong, Singapore A started the match with much gusto and built a good tempo to their attack. Aided by numerous penalties awarded against the Malaysian Barbas for their indiscipline at the breakdowns, the Singapore side were able to put the Malaysians under considerable pressure in the first half and hour of the game.

Singapore A squandered a few chances at putting the first points on the board through the backline due to the lack of support off out-center, Esther Phua, who created overlaps almost every time she touched the ball.

The Singapore A spirit was not to be crushed through the loss of their skipper, Sim, to an ankle injury in the 10th minute and substitute scrum half, Samantha Teo rose the challenge marshalling the forwards and delivering clean ball to the backline.

The sustained pressure turned into points when Teo took the advantage of a quick penalty inside the opposition 22m and passed to No. 8, Lee Yi Tian who put Singapore in the lead at 5-0.

The Barbarians would not take the challenge lying down and several infringements by the Singapore A players at the break down saw Singapore A defend their try line for a good 15 minutes before the end of the 2nd half . The Malaysians made good of the Singapore A’s mistakes and scored under the posts off a rolling maul in the Singapore 22m area. The try was converted and the half -time score was 7-5.

The Malaysians started strongly after the half time break and a few misplaced kicks by Singapore A fuelled the Malaysian counter attack which pinned Singapore in their own half for a good twenty minutes of the second half. Singapore A were awarded several penalties but were unable to capitalize by kicking the ball out of touch and had to defend the counter kicks by Barba’s full back, Felicia Adele Ng.

However, Singapore A held up their defences well and Lee, who was deservedly awarded man of the match, took advantage of the poor Malaysian lineouts to put Singapore A up when she stole a loose ball of the Malaysian line out in their 22m in the 60th minute.

Singapore A held on to their lead for the next 20 minutes with the backline threatened to score again through Phua and Yvette Chee and Rosida Sidin. The Singapore A forwards stepped up the pressure in the scrums when it mattered most and kept the Malaysians in their half the remainder of the match. But the Malaysian backline defence was determined and unwavering in their try area and the game ended with Singapore A just edging out the Malaysian Barbas 10-7.

On the whole, the game was ridden with penalties awarded against both sides and both teams showed good character when under pressure. Singapore A had a more threatening backline but were unable to convert their attacks to points due to the lack of support and a gutsy Malaysian defence. Finally it was the set pieces that gave away the Barba's lead and the game to the feisty Singapore A.