Singapore Women's Rugby: Asia Pacific Women's 7s

Showing posts with label Asia Pacific Women's 7s. Show all posts

Women's 7s Squad announced for Asia Pacific 7s

Singapore v Tonga at the Asia Pacific W7s 2011

23 August 2012

Singapore Women's National Team Head Coach, Danny Tauroa, has announced the 7s team that will travel to Borneo next week for the Asia Pacific Women's 7s 2012. The squad includes two debutants to the Singapore Women' National Team, Syazwani and Palanisamy and Chua, who is in the women's 15s team.

Singapore has had a good record at the annual tournament in Borneo beating Samoa and Tonga in the first year they participated and avenging their narrow 2010 plate final loss the Cook Islands by beating the Oceania contenders to take the Plate in 2011.

However, with the Oceania Women's 7s just held in August in Fiji, save for Australia and Papua New Guinea, many of the Oceania teams are noticeably absent from the lineup at the Asia Pacific Women's 7s this year.

27 September 2011
Wang Shao Ing

Singapore came away Plate Winners in the Asia Pacific Women's 7s 2011 after a hard fought final against the Cook Islands in Borneo over the weekend. It was a remarkable turn around for the republic who had lost to the same team in the pool stages by the largest margin in their campaign and sweet revenge for the sudden death one-try defeat in last year's Plate Finals.

Pooled with Samoa, Hong Kong and the Cook Islands, Singapore had a slow start to the tournament with a 34-5 penalty-ridden loss to Cook Islanders in their first game notwithstanding a last-gasp try by Tan Hui Juan. The second pool game saw a better Singapore side which nearly edged Samoa in the 12-10 loss as Wong Yilin and Lim Li Yan got their names on the scoresheet. A 28-5 victory by Hong Kong in the final pool game placed Singapore at the bottom of their group which meant a cup quarterfinal play-off against China who topped the other pool comprising Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Tonga.

Singapore Women's 7s Squad For Borneo Selected

8 September 2011

Singapore Women's 7s coach, Danny Tauroa, has made his team selection for the Asia Pacific Women's Sevens 2011 which will be held at the same time as the second leg of the Asian Rugby Seven Series in Borneo.

Singapore stunned Samoa and Tonga in last year's tournament with successive wins over the larger islander teams in the pool stages and the quarterfinals respectively before falling to Papua New Guinea in the semifinals last year. The republic narrowly lost out on third placing in a nail-biting sudden death Plate finals against The Cook Islands.

Tong Quietly Confident for the Weekend

3 November 2010

by Wang Shao Ing

It’s been a hectic week for the Singapore Women’s 7s team. Fresh from their tour to the Asia Pacific Women’s 7s 2010, the team is back in action again this weekend at the Singapore Cricket Club 7s against the likes of Japan, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Gene Tong, coach of the Women’s 7s team knows that though grueling to play two tournaments in back-to-back weekends, both the Asia Pacific 7's & Singapore Cricket Club 7's events are timely as part of the team’s build up to Asian Games. “We are looking to maintain our momentum right through to the end of the month and have a crack at a podium finish.”

Reflecting on their experiences in Borneo, Tong revealed that the team’s target was a top 3 ranking at the Asia Pacific Women’s 7s. While some might have thought this was wishful thinking with four teams from Oceania participating, Tong and his charges obviously had other ideas. The team swept aside the larger and more fancied Tonga and Samoa to produce two upsets which won them new fans and believers. They were only just denied their goal in the nail-biting Plate Final against the Cook Islands that went into extra time.

As for what we can expect from the team this weekend, Tong points out that three of the team’s core players were not available for the Asia Pacific Women’s 7s. “We are definitely looking at top two rankings for this weekend at SCC 7's as it will be an all-Asia affair. Furthermore, without Asian powerhouses of China & Kazakhstan, our chances of making the cup finals are pretty high and we are quietly confident that we can do well.”

The first women’s game of the Singapore Cricket Club 7s will kick off at 1024hrs on 5 November 2010. The complete schedule is available here.

Day 3: Brave Singapore Plate Runners Up at the Death

1 November 2010

by Wang Shao Ing

With the rain pouring down and pitch conditions best described as swampy, Singapore took on The Cook Islands in the Plate finals of the Asian Women’s Pacific 7s 2010 held in conjunction with the IRB Sevens Series and the Borneo 7s in Kota Kinabalu.

It was the Cook Islands that put in the first score using their size and close quarter support to put the Singaporeans on the backfoot. With low visibility and slippery conditions, Singapore defended their hearts out and held the game 5-0 at the half.

The republic struck back in the second half by stretching the Cook Islands defence and Samantha Teo raced home to equalize. Both sides had further attacking opportunities but neither was able to seal the win before full time taking the game into extra time.

The Cook Islands played to their strengths at sudden death with a tight game, hitting the Singapore defence with their larger players, eventually winning the Plate Final.

Singapore emerged the Plate Runners Up and ranked 4th in the tournament. Kazakhstan beat Papua New Guinea 22-15 in an equally gritty display to be crowned Cup Champions of the Asian Pacific Women’s 7s 2010.

Singapore will meet India, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia at the Singapore Cricket Club 7s this weekend.

Day 2: Singapore Stun Tonga but fall to PNG

31 October 2010

by Wang Shao Ing

In the second day of the Asia Pacific Women’s 7s 2010, Singapore put their disappointing defeat to India behind them to stun Tonga to reach the cup semifinals.

Having won the crowd from their performance against Samoa in the pool stages, Singapore did not disappoint in the Cup Quarterfinals.

The diminutive Singaporeans were disciplined and resilient in defence and spirited in attack. Each tackle on their larger opponents garnered loud cheers from the spectators and a succession of penalties against the Tongans allowed Derelyn Chua to put Priscilla Humphries through for a try within minutes of the kickoff.

Tonga’s repeated infringements at the breakdown gave Singapore another opportunity in their half and a well-worked penalty move put Eunice Tay under the posts for the republic’s second try.

The half-time allowed Tonga to regroup and they used their superior size to drive home a score quickly after the break. But Singapore, who looked to be enjoying their billing as the underdogs, held their ground and forced the Tongans to play the game from their half. At the final whistle, Singapore were through to the cup semifinals with a 12-5 win over Tonga.

Papua New Guinea enjoyed a walkover in their quarterfinal match and arrived at the last match of the day well-rested. Several defensive decisions by Singapore proved costly in the cup semifinals and PNG’s flying winger was unstoppable once in space. PNG recorded their highest score in the tournament by beating Singapore 54-0.

Singapore will go on to play the Cook Islands in the Plate Finals for the 3rd and 4th placing in the Asia Pacific Women's 7s 2010.

Singapore's win over Samoa as the Talk of the Day

30 October 2010

by Wang Shao Ing

After the first day of competition of the Asia Pacific Women's 7s held in conjunction with the IRB Asian Rugby 7s Series & Borneo 7s, the New Sabah Times hailed Singapore's victory over Samoa as "the talk of the day as the Islander girls sprang a surprise over the more fancied opponents".

After their first pool game loss to Papua New Guinea (28-0), the Singapore National Women's 7s team surprised the home crowd with their spirited performance and took the lead by just a conversion in the first half. The second half was a tense one with one Singapore player being yellow carded for a team offence but Singapore held their ground and were rewarded with a historical win against Samoa (7-5).

With both Samoa and Papua New Guinea beating India by at least seven tries each Singapore needed to pile on the scores against India to end the day ranked second in Group B. Given that the republic's last outing against India at the Asian 7s three months ago was 43-0, it should have been a comfortable win.

However, India had other ideas and employed their tight game well and with Singapore struggling to find their form, India took the game 10-7 throwing Group B into complete disarray with Singapore, India and Samoa having won 1 game each.

At the end of day 1, the Group A pool rankings were 1st: Kazakhstan, 2nd: Tonga, 3rd: Cook Islands & Group B 1st: Papua New Guinea, 2nd: Samoa, 3rd: Singapore & 4th: India.

Singapore Pooled with PNG, Samoa, India in Asia Pacific Women's 7s

29 October 2010

The National Women's 7s team will face Papua New Guinea, Samoa and India in the first day of the women's competition at the Asia Pacific Women's 7s 2010 held in conjunction with the IRB Asian Series/Borneo 7s in Kota Kinabalu today.

A total of eight women's teams including several Pacific Rim countries will face off at the Likas Stadium this afternoon in the three-day tournament. The other women's pool comprises, Kazakhstan, Tonga, The Cook Islands and Malaysia.

Singapore are missing the services of three senior players but this should prove a good platform for some of the younger talents to stake a claim for spots on the Asian Games squad. Singapore will face Papua New Guinea at 1440 followed by Samoa and India.