2 November 2009by Wang Shao Ing
If the pool stages were anything to go by, the playoffs of the RP Invitational Women’s 10s Tournament held last Thursday fulfilled its promise to be a nail-biting thriller with twist.
Group A leader National University of Singapore (NUS) and Group B runner-up Republic Polytechnic (RP) kicked-off the first semi final with a tightly fought match. Under pressure from the start from a rushing RP defence and several kicks from an RP boot, NUS were sloppy and unable to mount any meaningful attacking phases. Just as the game looked to be going into extra time, NUS managed to get the ball wide to winger Caslin Ong and a fine support line from Christabelle Lim secured NUS a last gasp win and a place in finals.
The second semi-final saw Singapore Institute of Management University (SIM) take on National Technological University (NTU) with the latter enjoying more possession and a few good attacking phases. But NTU squandered their build up with several unforced errors and SIM, the considerably more experienced team, punished them with two early tries through Chan Jia Yu and Clarissa Lim to seal their cup final spot.
In a dramatic Plate Final matching last week’s 5th /6th playoff between the Combined Team and SMU, NTU appeared to have the edge with a try from Lee Tao Jing but were forced into a extra time when RP’s Sophie Gollifer broke to equalize before full time. However, within a minute of the start of the sudden death, a lapse in defence by RP allowed NTU’s Amanda Teo to make a dazzling run give her team victory.
Anyone who had written off NUS based on the their previous encounter with SIM at SUNIG last month was to be sorely mistaken as they put their three-try defeat behind them to stage the upset of the tournament. A change in game plan saw NUS tightening up their attacking phases and testing SIM at the breakdowns and scrums. NUS nearly lost possession with some risky passes but managed to foil SIM's open play with some stellar defending to keep the board scoreless at the end of the first half.
Both teams looked battered at the break but the short hiatus seemed to invigorate NUS and Amelia Siew caught SIM napping off the fringe of the ruck in SIM’s half soon after and she took full advantage to put the ball under the posts. Skipper, Wong Yilin, made sure to buffer their winning margin with a conversion.
Although SIM threatened to break once or twice with an overlap, they were on the back foot for most of the second half against a resilient NUS defence and Siew duly rewarded her team’s efforts with 50m break off the blind side of the ruck to seal their place as Cup Champions of the RP Invitational Women’s Tens Tournament 2009 just before the final whistle.
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