Super Saturday

Its possibly the wish for every rugby fan to wake up on a lazy Saturday morning and realise that you might be staying home to watch some exciting rugby matches for the rest of the day,

So the matches up for the day are listed below:
Rugby Junior Championship Channel 113 Eurosports
France vs Japan
11.15am - 12.45pm
- I swear the last time i saw Japan play Korea on TV, it was bloody shiok..so should be quite a good game considering both sides are never afraid to swing the ball out wide and play the beautiful game. But its also good to note that this is the Junior championships...but what the heck.

IRB Pacific Nations Cup Channel 113 Eurosports
NZ Maoris vs Tonga
12.45pm - 2.30pm
- It is not often you get to see the NZ Maoris play let alone the Babas....I dont really know who will be showing up for Tonga, but i do know that most of the fringe players who didnt make the All blacks squad will be playing in this game, as well as some old birds who have constantly been in the NZ rugby scene, but never quite broke through into the All blacks for one reason or the other. So watch out for Piri, Marty Holah, H Gear(rico's brother) and Liam Messim (the dude came down and played in the Singapore 7s and killed big ol' Rob Murphy of Singapore...NICE.), who will be making his first appearance for the Maoris.


Rugby Union Test Matches Channel 170 Australian Network
NZ vs Ireland
3.30pm to 5.30pm
- xia la this one...good to see the new All Blacks squad. M Nonu is said to be playing in centre, while Conrad Smith should be starting with the #13 jersey. That should be an interesting combination. I have actually always been a big fan of Conrad Smith. The lad was quite small during his under 19 days, but really has worked really hard to get to where he is today. He is a solid centre with some very amazing running lines and not to mention good skills too. I would pick him over Ice(aka Toeava) any day.

Overall i think it will be a good match to see how the AllBlacks cope with the loss of the many greats, such as JC, Aaron, Dougie, Luke 'i fucked up big time' Mac, Byron and the list probably goes a bit longer... but u get my point by now. Definitely a must-watch.


IRB Pacific Nations Cup Channel 113 Eurosports
Fiji vs Samoa
7.30pm to 9.00pm
- Nothing quite like new pacific islander teams battling out and doing their shit. Pity Fiji can never come to terms with securing the services of Big Rupeni, who in my opinion is one of the most devastating winger the world has ever seen. Nevertheless any match that has Fiji in it is definitely going to be a joy to watch....watch out for the pre match war dance by both sides. Rumor has it there was a time where both sides did their pre match war dance simultaneously and were so psyched for the game that both sides did the dance so passionately and fiercely that by the end of both sides' war cry, they were almost face to face with their opposite number. Literally.

Rugby Union Test Matches Channel 170 Australian Network
South Africa vs Wales
9.00pm to 11.00pm
Lastly, the day ends with South Africa taking on the Welsh. Wales will no longer have the services of one of the most irritating wingers, Shane Williams. Irritating for the fact he is allowed to exist on the field with a frame and size like his. Every time i see him on the field doing his stupid sidesteps, i jus wish big old Jonah Lomu would give him a 'crash' course on how to be a winger or something. Alright I am stepping over the line here. But honestly, i am no big fan of Shane, but kudos to the man who has been one of the brightest spark that Wales has ever seen on the wing. The winger recently announced his retirement and had a testimonial match (Shane Willaims 15s vs Justin Marshall aka World 15s) not too long ago - fittingly, Shane Williams' side won the game with the dwarf winger scoring 2 tries, as he bid good bye to the professional game.

On the topic of wingers, in this match we will be seeing South Africa UNLEASHHHHH....their 2 fastest wingers in the country. Of course, Bryan Habana will be one of them, but the other is Tonderai Chavhanga, a player who was first capped for South Africa way back in 2005 and due to injuries has had problems securing a place in the Springboks....but after a storming season in the Super 14s, he is finally duly rewarded with a place on the wing. Be sure to catch this match, as it will be great to see the wings burnt up by this two unbelievable wingers.

Thats our round up of SUPER SATURDAY.

Proudly brought to you by SMUrugby news.

“The Shermanator” speaks up

In view of the recent rumors about the lack of leadership from the newly elected SMUrugby President, Sherman aka “Shermanator” Yeo, has released an official press release in the hope of setting these rumors straight once and for all. SMUrugby news was on hand to cover this exclusive press release from Vancouver, Canada, where “The Shermanator” is currently on exchange at.

“Every man has his own working style. Kudos to former President Amos “The Refresher” Seow for the fantastic work he has done with SMUrugby, but I operate in a manner which is completely different from him. Comparisons should only be drawn at the end of the season where all the tournaments end. At the end of the day, it is results which matter. I am confident that SMUrugby will match up to, if not BETTER the results of yester years. Let’s use the results to do the talking.

With regards to the lack of training during this period of time, I personally feel that training during this period of time is not justifiable as many of the players are not available. Players such as “Dezzo”, Lorenzo and even “The Refresher” himself are having internships while crucial forwards “Big Daddy” DMC and “The Robber” Poh are serving stints with overseas clubs. Furthermore, for the month of June we also lose crucial committee members Mouth Chew, Jed Ong and Daniel Lee who have gone to China for an OCIP trip. It just does not make sense to have trainings during this period of time.

Having said so, I promise that come the month of July things will change completely. After a couple of months of good long rest, trainings will pick up again as we start our preparation for the Blacks Midnight 10s and SUNIG 7s. Trainings are going to be hard and intense as we work closely with coach Harry Mason but this is needed as we seek to win the first officially recognized 7s tournament at the IVP level. Winning SUNIG 7s will truly establish SMU as the number one rugby university in Singapore.

The committee has also been putting in tremendous amount of work and I applaud and thank them for that. Organizing SUNIG 7s is not an easy task at all. We are also currently negotiating with the relevant bodies to have two new sets of rugby kit for the coming season. We will have one kit for home matches and another for away matches. That is something we can definitely look forward to as well.

On an ending note, I will also like to formally welcome Derek “The Snubber No. 2” Chan into the SMUrugby family. He is an exceptional talent who will certainly bolster our already impressive backline. Competition for places is going to be intense in the coming season but this form of competition will only serve to make the team stronger. Who did “The Refresher” bring in during his time as President? If I am not wrong most of the players of my batch joined SMUrugby on their own free will!

The committee is trying to hopefully bring in other talented signings into SMUrugby as well. It is indeed exciting times for SMUrugby!

(The editors would like to make it clear that they are not involved in this battle of words but are merely the avenue of which explicit views can be expressed)

SMU resting on their laurels?

With the recent SMU writers' strike, we have not been able to provide much news to our beloved fans. This strike might also be a reflection of the state of the SMUrugby team thats currently lead by the new exco that was sworn in at the end of April.

Rumors of unhappiness under the leadership of the "Shermantor" rages on...and calls for a new leader have been highly speculated. The team that won this year's Tri-Univerisites looked nothing like what they used to be and our loyal pundits(who have been with us since the start) are labelling this to be signs of sheer complacency.

When interviewed by SMUrugby news, former Captain Amos Siow said, "Its a sad and sorry sight and I hope that the new exco will step up to the challenge and work something out for us as a team...if not, all the hard work that have been put in by the last 3 batches will have come to waste"

Moving on to better news!

SMU has received latest news of securing the services of National 7s player Derek Chan. The flyer who is versatile and known for his quick pace, has followed the footsteps of Amos Siow, snubbing NTU to make the move to SMU. The newly labelled snubber, might be the crucial piece to making the rather dyfunctional SMU backline click. With no news of Justin "superstar" Lum making a return to the team and with Josiah Goh putting in a steady performance at scrumhalf, Derek will easily slot in perfectly at standoff and hopefully be able to create the space for the SMU backline to run freely.

In other news from the transfer market, SMU is rumored to also be in contract talks with National Winger Bryan Ng as well as former ACS(I) player of the season Joel Ong (Alex Ong's cousin).

So be sure to stay tuned, as we bring you the latest updates on this year's summer signings.