The team first entered the University rugby scene in 2005 and have ever since been win-less till now. Among the 3 schools competing, the team has little history to speak about. However, the team this year is the official organizers of the Tri-Universities Rugby Championships and are a much improved team compared to two seasons ago.The team nicknamed, City Boys, has gone through some transformation over the last year or so. After experiencing an unexpected victory in the NUS invitational 7s in 2006, the team has been identified by the school to be a sports club with potential to fill up the trophy cabinets in SMU. This then progressed further when the team was brought into the school's sports excellence program and has ever since enjoyed much improved financial support from the school.
With a squad of about 30 players, the team is buzzing with nervous excitement to take to the field and record their first 15-a-side victory in history. While our friendly pundits speak of the chances of the host winning the tournament, they say although the team boast of National 7s players like Daniel Marc Chow and Desmond Wee, it will be difficult to pick them to knock over the two long standing rugby power houses, NTU and NUS.
Nevertheless, in their preparation for the Tri-Universities, the squad has played 3 test matches and won all 3 and are hoping to really win when it matters most.
When asked to speak about their chances of creating an upset against NUS and NTU, Captain Amos Siow commented,
"They are both very strong teams, but we will take it one game at a time."
Although not tipped to be strong favorites for the tournament, the team interestingly boast to have the the highest number of combined national caps(number of appearance for the National team) in the team. When asked about what he thought about that interesting fact, SMU's skipper said,
"....it counts for nothing."
Players to watch for:
- Joel Leong - Flanker
- Daniel Marc Chow - Flanker
- Desmond Wee - Standoff/centre
- Alex Ong - Fullback
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