Blacks A and Bedok Kings Skyllas met in a cliff-hanger on Wednesday in their rematch of the week 1 game which was rained-off and the finals are now anything but certain.
Blacks A got onto the score board first with Amanda Teo touching down. But a lapse in the Blacks A defence in their half cost them and the Skyllas struck back through Katherine Bergeron who completed her line break with a chip, chase, catch past Blacks A's last line of defence to even the score. Karen Yeoh converted the same to put Bedok 7-5 up at the break.
Blacks A found more possession and territory in the second half through the boot of Eunice Tay which tested the Skyllas back three who were finding trouble fielding Tay’s prying kicks. Blacks A were rewarded with two tries from the pressure with a score from Gina Tan and Samantha Teo, whose charge down of a clearance by Esther Phua paid handsomely. Wong Yilin successfully converted one of the two to take the score to 17-7.
However, the inexperience and imprecision of the Blacks A pack showed as the Skyllas dominated the lineouts. Operating with just one pod, Bedok were aerially superior with Koh Mei Giet finding Sophie Gollifer on their own throws and the latter pinching enough opposition throws to keep her side out of trouble in their half.
Indiscipline and fatigue crept into the Blacks game whilst the Skyllas stuck to their guns and Annabel Woo soon made it 17 -12 for her side. The last quarter of the game saw Blacks A defending in their 22 and with the clock ticking, a play by Woo and Gollifer from the scrum put Angela Zheng into space on the blind for an equalizer.
Blacks A are still top of the board and have completed all their pool games. Bedok may yet knock the four-time champions off their perch to take top spot if they can beat Bucks by more than 58 points this weekend but victory over Bucks with less than that margin would still guarantee them a place in the finals.
With two games in hand Bucks stand a chance of making the playoffs if they can win both their remaining games or at least draw one of them whilst chalking up enough on the scores to pip the Skyllas on points. If they are to do this, they will need Lewis or more verve in their backline play as whilst the might of their forward pack is without question, the difference between first game win and second game loss has not only been the opposition but the absence of a penetrator in their backline to capitalize on the possession provided by their forwards.
RSC plays Blacks B on 5 March 2011 and Bedok Kings Skyllas meets Bucks RFC on 6 March 2011.
Related Links:
Match Statistics - Week 3
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