SMUrugby not participating in the Blacks Midnight 10s 2009

Jed Ong (left), former national swimmer, looking to make an impact for the ACS OBA

This year is the first year in the past 3 years that SMU will not participate in the Blacks Midnight 10s. After winning the Bowl tournament in 2007 and 2008, the 2008 defending champions have opted to pull out from the tournament and concentrate on rebuilding their squad and gear up for the biggest university tournament of the year, the SuNIG 7s.

Nevertheless, the omission from the tournament has provided SMUrugby players to play for their respective clubs, as President Derek Chan gave the green light to players to participate in the yearly tournament.

Ben Wai, looking to get match time with ACSOBA

Players such as En Jian, Jed Ong, Mouth Chew, Ben Wai, Cheeky aka Melvin Teo and Daniel Lee will be featuring for the ACS OBA team. This will be the first time the ACS OBA will be participating in this tournament and playing in a competitive tournament since 11 years. The team will also have the likes of former ACS boy and NTU forward, Yik Thai Hoe who will certainly play an integral role in the team

Bryan Ng will be looking to keep his try scoring habits for the Red Dot Rebels

Other SMU players featuring in this tournament will be Justin Lum, Bryan Ng and Amos Siow who will all be playing for the Red Dot Rebels. The team will be full of many local talents, including former SMU captain, Daniel Marc Chow and Alex Chew. Also featuring in the squad will be former NUS centre A'srie, who is making his first competitive appearance since a career ending injury last year, and current NUS utility player, Valmiki C Nair. This squad will certainly look like an interesting team to watch out for.

So if you are interested do hop on down to catch our boys in action head on down to the Blacks Midnight 10s at SPE tonight.

Rongy to coach SMU for life?

Last night at the City Boys' training ground, the boys who usually have trainings on Wednesdays’ nights at the underground concourse were told to give way for the SMU cheerleading team. It was reported that they was a bit of Argie Bargie going on between SMUrugby’s representative and the SMU cheerleading captain (some chick), but eventually the rugby boys (being the gentlemen that they are) gave in and resorted to training at an open space outside the school library in the DARK!

Rumor has it, a deal was struck with the cheerleading team, but the conditions of agreement for the use of the training ground were undisclosed. However, whatever the conditions were, it certainly left a lot of the City boys grinning from ear to ear when they were told to relocate to the random space outside the library. Strange, but it’s true.

Rumor has it: En Jian (EJ), Vice president of SMUrugby was the one who negotiated the 'deal' with the cheerleading girls?

The training was said to be somewhat productive as players ran around blindly in the dark. Coach Rong described the session to be one requiring high levels of awareness and good handling skills, something which apparently the City Boys weren’t very good at.

However, the training in the dark last night played little significance to the tension that has been surrounding the speculation of Coach Rong leaving, especially after having signed a new contract till the end of the year. The ‘has-been’, the forgotten, the 45-caps former Singapore captain said, “the speculations of being offered a job by a mysterious source for an undisclosed fee is true. The money they were offering was good, but after consulting my agent and talking to a few friends, I have made the decision to stay.” The legendary forward who suffers from two bad knees and who constantly walks with a chronic limp shared that from this latest episode he has discovered that his heart lies with SMU, the place where he calls his “HOOD”.

The board that spoke to him were visibly relieved by the news, but told the media that Rong has requested that the terms and conditions that he signed for in his latest contract be reviewed immediately. Apparently, during the time of agreement the 29-year-old coach was promised 77 SMU virgins as a win bonus, should he help SMU to successfully defend their SuNIG 7s’ crown in October. The finance officer of SMUrugby told us, “the man is now asking for 300!”

The board will hold another meeting with regards to reviewing coach Rong’s contract and will see if his request be viewed reasonable or not. But for now, the City Boys are glad to know that they will still have a coach with them for the next 6 months of their season.

Coach RONG to leave prematurely?!?!

Late last night, SMU City Boys received shocking rumors that Coach Rong Jing Xiang might be set to leave the club. The coach who recently signed a newly extended contract in July has been linked to a lucrative move to a mysterious job for an undisclosed fee.

The news came as a shock as the coach had only signed a new 6 months contract and had pledged to stay with the City Boys till the end of the year. When President Derek Chan was interviewed, he said, “We can’t confirm the validity of these rumors…” The new SMUrugby president who just assumed the leadership role added he has arranged for an emergency board meeting and has requested Coach Rong to have a word with the board.

Derek Chan aka D.Chan told SMUrugby news, “Should Rong choose to leave we will respect the decision, but for now, we will take things one step at a time and see what is the situation.”

The announcement of such news has posed a threat to the team’s current progress and preparation for the upcoming SuNiG 7s which is set to take place on the 3rd & 4th October.

Meanwhile, the Wednesday’s training (26th August) is said to be as-per-normal despite the rumors. In addition, Coach Rong has indicated that he will certainly be present and will be looking forward to the 25-odd players squad to turn up in full force at the Concourse (underground).

Could this be the last training for Coach Rong? Will Coach Rong leave? Will the departure of Coach Rong, mark the downfall of SMU’s reign as the #1 Rugby University in Singapore?

Stay tuned, as we will give you the latest on SMUrugby News

Insider news: Rumor has it, Uncle Wei Nurn might be eyeing on the coaching job!!!

Fullback quitting rugby to start feasting club?

After being largely anonymous last season and announcing his informal retirement from the game, the man they called "The Ong" made a surprise appearance during SMU's last training on Friday, at their latest new training ground at Kallang.

The man who recently lost his starting position to Wang En Jian was looking relaxed and cool about his 'shocking appearance'. He said, "I am just here for a work out. Nothing more to it." He dispelled all rumors that he might be gearing up to play for the upcoming SuNiG 7s and insisted he will like the media to leave him in peace.

Off the field, the star fullback is rumoured to have been operating a club of his own on the City Campus, called "The Feasting Club". Apparently, the club which began just 6 months ago was formerly headed by ex-City Boy, Lionel "Robber" Poh. However, after Poh's semi-retirement from the rugby scene and an expired contract with the City Boys, the leadership role has fallen upon Alex Ong's shoulders to lead the charge in having massive feasting all through the days.

The Feasting President Ong, is said to be recruiting more members for his club, which has currently 2 members remaining since the departure of Poh. The other member being current SMUrugby President Derek Chan. The duo are said to hold club meetings around Waterloo street during lunch-time.

When questioned about the existence of the Feasting Club, Alex Ong replied, "Be there or be square."

Tough challenges lie ahead of SMUrugby

Its been a long time since we last “refreshed” our much beloved blog, which is coincidentally looking to surpass the total viewership of NTU’s blog really soon. ..So in order to achieve that and feed all you hungry readers out there…we are back once more with the new and latest juice and spills of what goes on in the university rugby scene and in particular, the City Boys.

After an impressive season that saw SMUrugby successfully defending their Tri-Unis title, 2008 President Sherman Yeo stepped down to allow the newly-appointed President, Derek Chan to assume the honors and bring SMU forward in the competitions and challenges ahead.

Upon assuming the new leadership role, President Derek Chan wasted no time by firstly renewing the coaching contract of Coach Rong Jing Xiang for yet another term. When interviewed with SMUrugby news, the coach who led the team to it’s second Tri-Universities Crown was elated. He said, “I am looking forward to working with the boys, they are a great bunch with lots of talent.”

The first challenge for Coach Rong is to defend SMU’s SuNIG 7s’ Crown, a challenge that has left many pundits and critics speaking of how this could be a tough test for Rong and his boys. The former Singapore Captain has to deal with a squad that has suffered a significant depletion ever since key players such as Daniel Marc Chow, Desmond Wee, Lorenzo, Weiming, Alex Chew and Lionel Poh, have all left the team on free transfer.

Speaking to Coach Rong after his 1st official training for the 2009/2010 season with the City Boys at the City Campus underground concourse on Wednesday, Coach Rong said, “The players that left us were certainly a tough act to follow, but I believe that the current squad of players have what it takes to step up to the plate and fill the big shoes. We just need to work on gelling the team together and work with the new boys who have come in this year.”

Despite appearing confident in his replies throughout his interview, Coach Rong did drop hints on his concerns for how the boys might fare next season for the Tri-Unis 15-a-side Championship, saying that while he is confident for the coming SuNiG 7s, he admits there will be a lot more work needing to be done when the 15 a side season starts.

But in his words, “It’s going to be a challenge, but I like challenges and I believe the City Boys will be up for it when the time comes.”

Only time will tell.