SCC Rugby 7s: Its back!!!

Its back and it tomorrow. Unfortunately, its not free anymore but i bet tickets are still available. Come down, let your hair down, drink some beers and watch great rugby. The fixtures are as below. For more info:http://www.sccrugbysevens.com

Match	Pool	Start Time	Team 1	Team 2
1	A	08:18	COTTESLOS	SINGAPORE BARBARIANS
2	B	08:36	ORIENTAL RONGOTAI	CASUARINA COUGARS
3	B	08:54	PALMYRA	GOVE
4	C	09:12	PONSONBY	KURUMI
5	C	09:30	RANDWICK	THAI BARBARIANS
6	D	09:48	SCOTTISH THISTLES	RED DOT REBELS
7	D	10:06	ARABIAN GULF RFU	TAMARIVA
8	E	10:24	SA VIPERS	INDONESIA BARBARIANS
9	E	10:42	IMPALA	SINGAPORE CRICKET CLUB
10	A	11:00	DAVETALEVU	SINGAPORE BARBARIANS
	A	11:18
11	B	11:36	ORIENTAL RONGOTAI	GOVE
12	B	11:54	PALMYRA	CASUARINA COUGARS
13	C	12:12	PONSONBY	THAI BARBARIANS
14	C	12:30	RANDWICK	KURUMI
15	D	12:48	SCOTTISH THISTLES	TAMARIVA
16	D	13:06	ARABIAN GULF RFU	RED DOT REBELS
17	E	13:24	SA VIPERS	SINGAPORE CRICKET CLUB
18	E	13:42	IMPALA	INDONESIA BARBARIANS
	A	14:00
19	B	14:18	GOVE	CASUARINA COUGARS
20	C	14:36	THAI BARBARIANS	KURUMI
21	D	14:54	TAMARIVA	RED DOT REBELS
22	E	15:12	SINGAPORE CRICKET CLUB	INDONESIA BARBARIANS
23	A	15:30	DAVETALEVU	COTTESLOS
24	B	15:48	ORIENTAL RONGOTAI	PALMYRA
25	C	16:06	PONSONBY	RANDWICK
26	D	16:24	SCOTTISH THISTLES	ARABIAN GULF RFU
27	E	16:42	SA VIPERS	IMPALA

Injury to AUG's A'srie

An ACL and MCL tear sustained during last week's Singapore Cup finals between Bedok Kings and SCC, might put National and AUG 7s centre, Muhd A'srie out of action for quite a long while. The player was present during yesterday's Triangular 7s friendly tournament between ACJC, SMU and the AUG squad, and was visibly disappointed by the news and told us,

"I am bit shocked by the news, because I am not in a great deal of pain and I am walking around fine..."

The player will be undergoing intensive physiotherapy to regain as much stability and strength, and will hope to play through the AUG 7s with extensive tapping and precautionary measures. However, the player has asked for the team to give him some time to assess how he feels over the next few weeks, before he makes a final decision to whether he will play any further part as a player in the squad.

Meanwhile, the AUG squad will be keeping their eyes open for any possible replacements and have indicated their interest in inviting NUS' fullback David Lee to join the set up. The player has yet to respond to the invitation.

On behalf of the writers at SMUrugby news and the AUG squad, we wish A'srie a speedy recovery.

Misrepresented

These days, everyone has something to say. The best part is when they have something to say and miraculously, you have said it and you have no recollection of it. Welcome to new age Blogging...its no longer the ethical business of the recent past.

If you scroll down to "Vices gone Wild", you would see a lomo shot of me, and the post says sth along the line that i am going to cut down smoking cos its not good for me and i need to make it to Bucks 1st IV. Now, this is what really happened: Matt bought a lomo and we were at shisha and Matt was basically playing with his camera. When he developed the film, it turned out generally quite bad except for that one with me blowing smoke. So he wrote his own story.

Except from the part that it is bad for me, i am definately not contesting that, its been clinically proven, there was no truth in that sentence. I dont intend to cut down smoking and i think i did repeatedly make the team and will continue to do so given i train hard and play well without being judged by how much i smoke.

Then there is the Justin Lum part. Do you really think i give a damn about the unhappiness amongst our non-existent fans?

I think the greatest issue with us is, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Some people read this page cos they love or hate us, some people just refresh, some fat people call other people fat on the tag board. However, we must realise, the sooner the better, that the activities of this team is neither closely watched no makes a great impact on anything in particular. So i plead to my fellow writers and editors: Drop the fancy rubbish and get on with facts!

Friendly 7s Tournament

SMU will be participating in a Friendly 7s Quadrangular Tournament this coming Friday together with the AUG 7s squad, ACS (I) and ACJC. The aim of the tournament is to allow the AUG squad to work on their game in preparation for the Asean University Games which will take place in Kuala Lumpur in December. The AUG squad has been training intensively under "The Boss" Lincoln Tan since the end of SUNIG 7s and will be looking to get used to playing as a team and getting their plays right. On the other hand, SMU will be without many of their key players as they are committed to the AUG squad. SMU will be looking to put up a good performance with their new batch of year 1 players such as Nicholas Hwang and Melvin Teo, who have already showed immense promise after making their debut appearances during SUNIG 7s as well as the old guards like Vickneswaran Sellathurai and Matthias Lim.

In addition, ex-National 7s starlet Justin Lum is rumoured to be making his big comeback for SMU at this tournament after suffering from a near career-ending knee injury exactly one year ago. At press time, SMUrugby's treasurer Vickneswaran Sellathurai commented, "Having only made one appearance for SMU so far,the fans are disgruntled with Justin. We need to justify to our fans the amount of money we paid for Justin in the transfer market last year. He has been working hard in the gym and looks ready to play. He has told me personally he will show up for the game. I have faith in him."

Quadrangular 7s Tournament
Featuring AUG Squad, SMU, ACJC & ACS (I)
24th October 2008, Friday
Kick off @ Anglo-Chinese Junior College (Time to be confirmed)

SMU Boys are to either meet at Pick & Bite at 3.30pm or make their own way to ACJC

Who's in and who's out?

The disciplinary hearing conducted by an internal SMU panel regarding the foul play incident that occured during the SUNiG 7s finals, has announced a tournament (for AUG) ban on winger, Bryan Ng. The player who pleaded guilty to the charges of foul play on all 3 counts, admitted that he got a bit carried away during the SUNiG finals against NUS, and knows that he has to be responsible for his actions and will serve the ban effectively by being removed from the initially selected AUG squad.

Said SMU Sports officer, Andrew Aaron Tam,

"We are glad that he (Bryan) has understood the consequence of his actions. Yes, although we(SMUrugby) want to win...winning doesn't come at such a price or rather such a manner. We hope that all who are in the rugby fraternity will know that, Bryan is being reprimanded and punished for his actions, and not simply to maintain the bilateral ties with NUS and us. As a school, we simply do not condone his actions and we want to make clear of that."

Updates on the AUG 7s (Singapore Combined Unis Squad)

NUS' flyhalf Pravin, who was initially picked for the AUG 7s, has withdrawn from the squad. After a no-show from the first 6 trainings, the NUS medicine student, called in to say that he will not be able to commit to the squad because of his heavy workload, hence leaving the squad short of a player.

Without Pravin, the squad was in need of a playmaker and possibly a player who is comfortable to run the game at flyhalf. After much debate amongst the coaching panel, the selectors decided to give a surprise call to former AC boy, Xu Ren Han, who is currently now in NTU-NIE doing his diploma in teaching.

For those who do not know who Renhan is, thats a shame. But we will try to tell you more about him.

Renhan(on the extreme left of the picture above), a former ACsian was hailed as one of the most talented players of his time. Till today people who have followed school rugby in the 90s, will remember the kind of magic Renhan could weave just with a little show of the ball. The latter, completed his degree at NUS and after exploring some career options with ESPN and the deep blue sea (he is a dive master), he decided he will pursue a career in teaching, hence NTU-NIE.

Having said all that, the addition of Xu RenHan to the AUG squad will certainly boost the morale and confidence of the team . The only problem that remains to be seen is whether Renhan the legendary wizard still has his touch of magic? and just how UNFIT is he?!

For the next few weeks till the AUG, SMUrugby news will also be covering news from the AUG squad

vice gone wild

With escalating cost and the players severely hit by inflation and the failing economy, many of the SMU boys have given up their favorite pastime, sitting by pick&bite and smoking the day and awaiting the sight of the elusive Miss J.

Hardcore veteran Jed Ong has this to say "no kick anymore. I need to find something that can contain me and sit me down. I'm beyond that, plus now can save money too!"

The team's resident ankle destroyer, Vickneswaran, adds "I've gotta cut down on the smoking la. Its not good for me at all. I need to make the Bucks first XV!"

True to his words, the ankle destroyer has left us with his personalized anti-smoking campaign poster.

AUG 7s squad announced

The Asean Universities Games (AUG) Rugby 7s training squad has been announced. It was officially announced last Wednesday, after AUG coach, Lincoln Tan confirmed his selection of 14 players to train for the upcoming AUG tournament, set to take place at the end of the year in Malaysia.

The selectors had a tough choice picking from the players who played during the recently concluded SUNIG 7s, but eventually narrowed it down by picking the 14 players. The first training session was held last Friday at SMU, but turn out was generally poor, due to the absence of 4 National Players, who were up in Hong Kong competing in the World Cup 7s. Nevertheless, "the boss" wasted no time and got straight into action, putting the players through the paces.

The AUG squad will be training thrice a week during the month of October and will look to taper down during the month of November, as players will be in need of time and rest to prepare for exams. Finally, in December, 2 weeks before the AUG 7s, the team will then "up" training to as many as 4 times a week.

While the squad might be facing a constraint of time for preparation, the selected players have put pen to paper and indicated their interest and commitment in participating in this set-up. and have pledged to give nothing less than their best to represent the Singapore Combined Universities in this year's Asean Universities Games.

The AUG 7s Squad

1. Alex Chew (SMU)
2. Alex Ong (SMU)
3. Amos Siow (SMU)
4. Chong Wei Nurn (SMU)
5. Daniel Marc Chow (SMU)
6. Daniel Thiam (NTU-NIE)
7. Derek Chan (SMU)
8. Lionel Poh (SMU)
9. Muhammad A'srie (NUS)
10. Mohammad Raihan (NUS)
11. Pravin (NUS)
12. Shafiq Zulazmi (NUS)

Unavailable players:
1. Keith Oh (due to personal commitments)
2. Bryan Ng (withdrawn by SMU from the squad)