Saturday, August 29, 2009

Montfort C Div Rugby Lions M1 Schools Rugby Series Runner-Up


Our C Div Montfort Rugby Lions ended up as Overall Series 1st Runner-Up for the Under-14 category in the M1 Schools Rugby Series organised by Singapore Rugby and local telco M1. The only team that had a better record than Montfort in this year's M1 Schools Rugby Series was ACS Barker Road. Our Runner-Up position in the three-tournament series was secured after the Montfort Rugby C Div Lions took part in the third and final round of the M1 Schools Series U14 on Saturday August 29th at Yio Chu Kang Stadium. A Cup Semi-Final appearance in the third & final tournament of the series was enough for Montfort to be crowned as the second most powerful team in the 10s rugby in Singapore. Only ACS Barker is a better 10s outfit than Montfort.

For the third and final tournament, Montfort was drawn in Group B together with Damai Secondary and Regent Secondary.

The tournament format was a 10-a-side match with each played for 10 minutes flat.

In our first group match on Saturday, our C Div ruggers beat Damai 12-0 with lock Azhar opening the scoring with a try. Our speedy winger Randell Toh added another try after a burst down the wings. Our Captain, Mohd Shamir, converted one of the two tries before the referee called time in the first match.

In our second match for the day, Montfort turned on the style and ran in three tries against Regent Secondary with Dominic Daniel, Randell Toh and Mohd Shamir scoring the tries against a valiant Regent Secondary. Shamir converted two of the three tries.

With two wins out of two group matches, Montfort emerged as Group B champions and were paired against the Group C champions - ACS Independent - in the Cup Semi-Finals.

The Cup Semi-Final was a pulsating match with our Montfort Ruggers pushing their ACSI opponents before succumbing to two converted tries from the awesome ACSI forward pack.

With the Semi-Final defeat, Montfort left the tournament with a Top 4 placing for the day and Overall Series 1st Runner-Up.

The M1 Schools Series, a three tournament series, sees teams being awarded points for each tournament that they take part in.

The Overall Champion of the M1 Schools Rugby Series will be determined by the team with the most Series points as set out below for each tournament:

Cup Winner (1) 30 points
Cup Runner Up (1) 28 points
Cup Semi-Finalist (2) 26 points

Plate Winner (1) 22 points
Plate Runners Up (1) 20 points
Plate Semi-Finalist (2) 18 points

Bowl Winners (1) 14 points
Bowl Runners Up (1) 12 points

Shield Winner (1) 8 points
Shield Runners Up (1) 6 points

Participating Team 2 points

Our C Div Montfort Rugby Lions had emerged as Plate Champions in the first tournament in March, Cup Runners-Up in the second tournament in June and Cup Semi-Finalists.

The cumulative points of 76 points meant that our C Div Montfort Rugby Lions ended up as Overall Series 1st Runner-Up for the Under-14 category. The only team that had a better record than Montfort was ACS Barker Road.

Well Done Montfort C Div Ruggers!

The Tens Squad over the past three tournaments:
Matthew Ho, Alvin Yap, Lewis Syn, Zulhilman, Kang Dong Wan, Chua Chinnakrit, Dominic Daniel Kumar, Mohd Shamir, Kirish Deepan, Ivan Lim, Randell Toh, Kenny Lee, Azhar, Harry Stokes, Zech Wong, Mohd Syahiran, Solomon Soh and Ryan Tai.

Coaches: Euan Morrison (Head Coach), Low Feng Hua and Pan Chao (Assistant Coaches)
Attending Teachers for 29th August: Mr Singh and Mr Yong

Match Picture Courtesy of ACSI Parent Volunteer Mr Richard Seow