SMUrugby Annual General Meeting

During the SMUrugby AGM, President Amos Siow once again gave one of his infamous naggy emotional speeches and went on to present individual awards to the players.

Most Absent Player of the Year
Alvin Tan
While Justin Lum should have rightfully got this award instead of Alvin, Alvin's no show when his services was most needed was deemed intolerable by the team, especially when he didn't turn up for trainings choosing to focus on his 'very low' GPA.

Most "Penalties" Conceded
Shen Sijie
The Animal is known for his gangster swagger on and off the field, but more so for his consistent ill-discipline in games. The latter was caught conceding 3 consecutive penalties in a span of 5 mins against NTU, this demeanour resulted in an outrageous outburst by fellow team-mate Vicknesh, who certainly made his feelings known to Sijie about what he thought about his infringements.

Most Random Player of the Year
Lorenzo Escano 'it wasn't me' Lim
You cannot be sure what the Escano is up to, or what random moves he might pull off on the field. His repeated dummy pass and random winger commentary on the field has won him the award of Random Player of the year, closely behind him was team-mate Alex Ong.

Most Influential Player of the year
Alex Ong
Sigh.

Best Foreign Talent
Tafa
Well...he is not from Kenya. Tafa is from Zimbabwe. Enough said.

Most Improved Newcomer
Vignesh Naidu aka The Darkness
When he first joined SMUrugby, the Darkness could barely coordinate his hand and eye movement. But after having under gone some intensive training (rumor has it, with Mok Wai Hon), his hands (we mean Rugby Ball handling skills) have improved.

Most Consistent/All-rounded Performer
Chew Yin Xiang aka Mouth
Always ready to put in a sturdy performance, Mouth has been versatile and always ready to fill in at any position for the team, adding much depth to the SMU team.

Biggest "Guns"
Nasiruddin aka Total Package
We quote, "Doing gym...gives me a rush. It makes me feel like I'm in heaven!" We say, those guns don't lie.

Most Dramatic Player of the Year
Desmond "I'm f*cked up" Wee
We might not have seen much of the Weezer scoring much tries or making as much breaks as he is famous for this Tri-Unis, but one thing's for sure - you know that Desmond is on the field when the referee is getting a crash course on Rugby Rules 101 while on the field. He is definitely SMU's most opinionated player, who is not afraid to take it out on the referee, whether you are an 40 year old male referee or a 19 year old touch girl refereeing a game of fun touch, Desmond exercises sexual equality and gives them both the hair-dryer treatment. The Weezer's latest stunt has been to simulate an injury the way soccer players do. During the first leg against NUS, the latter suffered a late tackled and went down like someone had turn the lights out on him, he lay motionless for a good minute before getting up perfectly fine and yelling at the referee.

Hottest SMU 'player' Player
Benjamin Teong aka Slayer Player
If Edison Chen is a God, you obviously have not met Ben Teong.

Special Contribution Award
Lim Wei Ming
Weims as he is known, has contributed a lot outside the scope of a SMUrugby player. Taking fantastic pictures for the team and assisting in the logistic matters for the team, the player has never backed down on helping the team when called upon.

SMU Ambassador/Spielberg Award
Naresh
The outgoing president of the school's ambassador's society has made a name for himself for his candid camera shots of random WAGs during games and comical commentating.

Smartest SMUrugby player Award
Daniel Lee aka Leoniadas
In SMU, our results are calculated by a thing called the Grade Point Average (GPA) and the maximum one can get is 4.0. Well his GPA is above 4, go figure.

Most Dedicated Player 2007/2008
Matthias Lim
With an almost perfect record of attendance, the SMU prop has never failed to make it for training and has always been the first to volunteer to help take care of the team's logistics. "If Matt is not at training, there is most likely no training"

Most Hardworking Player 2007/2008
Vicknesh Sellathurai
The National Thrower who is training hard to go for the 2009 SEA games trains daily is certainly the most hardworking player in the team. Just think about how he was 140kg, to the now 92kg Vick... thats definitely hardwork for you.

Most Promising Player 2007/2008
Zaini
We have seen glimpses of what Zaini can do, and has proven himself to be a tackling machine more than anything else. We urge you to keep an eye on this fellow, as he is sure to blossom into a quality player for the City Boys.

Most Improved Player 2007/2008
Jed Ong
Former National Swimmer who left the individual sport for a team game, he has picked up the game fairly quickly and has shown much determination in learning the game. In his efforts to play flanker, the former SEA games Gold medalist has abandoned his once lean body for a much bulkier one.

Best Newcomer 2007/2008
Jeffrey Ong
Latest addition to the team, Jeffrey has been absolutely committed to the team and has shown great attitude during trainings and games. He is a hard-hitter of the game and we hope to see more of him in action in time to come.

Best Freshmen of the Year
Sherman Yeo
The former National Under 19 Captain has had a solid season, putting up consistent performances with every game, winning praises from coach Harry Mason frequently.

IRAUG 7s Player of the Tournament
Lionel Poh
Up in Australia, the Vice President of SMUrugby lead the team to a credible 4th finish and in the process destroyed some Australians with his ferocious tackling. One of his big hits left Curtin's star player winded and gasping for breath.

IRAUG 7s Top Try Scorer
Lionel Kong
He scored 3 tries in one half against Murdoch University and another against Curtin. Lionel Kong was all gas up on this tour.

Best SMU Back of the Tri-Uni
Josiah Goh
If you consider the fact that he played winger in his college days, Josiah filled in at scrumhalf brilliantly and proved to be a very important player to the City Boys. With natural scrumhalf Justin Lum out, Josiah took up the challenge and had an outstanding tournament.

Best SMU Forward of the Tri-Uni
Joel Leong
Quiet and blurry looking, the freshmen had a good performance during the Tri-Unis and played an important role in SMU's victory over NUS.

Best SMU Player of the Tri-Uni
Daniel Marc Chow
Monster. With a 75% strike rate (scoring 3 tries out of 4 matches), the #8 was a handful to opponents and was a huge driving force in the team.

Best Back of the Season 2007/2008
Alex Ong

Best Forward of the Season 2007/2008
Daniel Marc Chow

Best Player of the Season 2007/2008
Sherman Yeo

Long Service Award
Chong Wei Nurn
Uncle Wei Nurn will be graduating by the end of this term and has probably played his best rugby with SMU this year. The hooker who has been an integral member of the team will certainly leave the team as a legend and will be sorely missed.

Tri-Universities Champions 2008

SMUrugby made history when they beat NUS in the second leg of the Tri-Universities to record their first ever victory against them. The win also secured the City Boys first ever 15 a side trophy and helped erase the horrors of a last place finish for the past 2 years since it's existence.

The team has shown much character and depth throughout this season and will hope to take this taste of success as a stepping stone for greater things to come.

The season of 2007/2008 has been a fruitful one for the City Boys who have done SMU proud in their respective display in the:

-Blacks Midnight 10s (Bowl Champions)
- SMU ringEmails 7s (Plate Champions)
- India Rim Australia Universities 7s Games (4th place out of 6 teams)
- Tri Universities Rugby Championship (Champions)

This has been a good start to a relatively young team and we hope that with the summer 'transfer' market due to open in May, that the City Boys will be able to make a few quality signings to help boost their team's chances at future competitions.

Thank you for making the Tri-Unis a success!

With the completion of a successful Tri Universities Rugby Championship, SMUrugby will like to take the opportunity to thank the people who has made this tournament a great success

• Singapore Rugby Union - For the sanction of the tournament and supporting the tournament by appointing referees for our matches.

• SMU's Office of Student Life (OSL) - For the huge support they have given the SMUrugby team to organizing and competing in this tournament.

• SMU Sports Union (SSU) - For helping us with the finances, claims and invoices with regards to the tournament and the well-wishes.

• NUS & NTU Captains- Shafiq Zulazmi, Valmiki C Nair and Ang Tze Shien - In helping in the smooth organization of the fixtures. They also helped to secure rugby fields to play the games and were good captains to work towards a successful tournament

• Redsports.sg Leslie Tan - For the extensive coverage on the tournament, providing us a neutral perspective of the games and some very nice photos from the game. We hope to be able to in return show more support by encouraging more people to patronize and visit your website at http://www.redsports.sg/

• The supporters & readers - Every game, teams were always well supported. Certainly didn't get a sell-out crowd, but for those who made the trip down to support the players and the game, it created to the great atmosphere. We also like to thank our hardcore fans and readers who visit our blog to keep themselves updated on the latest scores from the Tri-Unis. We appreciate it.

We hope to see you again next year, as we work towards bringing up the rugby scene on a Singapore University level.

Watch out for the Tri-Unis Dream Team 2008.

So where do we go from here?

We will be hoping to form a Singapore Combined Universities Side and make a request to the POL-ITE side to form a combined side and to have a 3 legged tournament where the Singapore Combined Universities side take the Singapore Combined POL-ITE side, pretty much like how the British Lions tour around NZ, South Africa and Australia. Hopefully, we will be able to make this Singapore Combined Uni side a regular fixture and perhaps conduct friendlies to play against some of the Singapore clubs in the future. So stay tuned.

SMU Rugby Doesn't Get Pushed Around

This was the Pushball when it all began.

This was the Pushball by the time we were done with it.

On the 1st of March 2008, Sentosa's Siloso Beach experienced earthquakes estimated to hit a decimating 9.8 on the richter scale. SMURugby News was immediately on the scene, hitching a ride from the Riot Police who thought that Mas Selamat had finally decided to strike at Singapore's major tourism hotspot.


Fortunately, it was not Mas Selamat who was the culprit, but our very own homegrown terrorists. Sightings of the suspects remain sketchy at best, but our SMURugby News' very own talented photographer Lim Weiming caught the following shots of fleeing suspects:





Not much is known about them except that the first is an aspiring film director of Bollywood origin, and the other two are Australian refugees. Together they form the two notorious teams that destroyed the SMU Waikiki Pushball tournament held at Sentosa that day to emerge 1st and 3rd place respectively.

The group was recruited by the bloodthirsty President of an undisclosed Middle Eastern Nation who broke someone's knee that day. Further reports reveal that it is rumoured to be composed of members from a certain SMU Elite Sport that has recently brought home one of the university's gold medals. The devastating plan of attack was masterminded by a local drug dealer known only as "One Foot Jed" who is said to be related to footballing legend John Terry. The mastermind was injured in the foot by a sharp object in the sand and walks with a limp. Please keep your eyes open for him.

Jed sports his Symbolic "Get High Today" Crown

Rumour has it that this terrorist Pushball Team is here to stay....
We at SMURugby News are proud to once again bring you breaking news as it hits (literally).

The Changing Face of SMU Rugby

Most of us would be familiar with the ‘tear-jerking’ fairy tale where Cinderella, the poor abused girl finally found her dreams coming true thanks to a well fitted glass shoe. Amos Siow, in every right, was the Cinderella in the fairy tale ending when SMU Rugby clinched the inaugural Tri-Uni Championships last Saturday. We all can be pretty sure that Amos himself will agree that one of the ugly step sisters that often abused him would definitely be Alex Ong and also of course Alex Ong would consider this more of a compliment than anything else.

Chong Wei Nurn (Uncle Chong) received his first gold medal after a long drought in his illustrious rugby career. The visibly delighted Uncle Chong has been through the tough times. SMU Rugby fraternity past and present know where this team stood not too long ago. We were winless in the 15s game till a few weeks ago when we beat NTU 8-7 in the first leg. Looking back one can only awe at the magnificent achievement of the Superhuman President Amos Siow.

From securing a coach, to bringing together the players, settling disputes in selection of players and even making the Tri-Unis happen, Amos Siow did it all. Not to forget, this very blog was his brainchild and the success of it has largely been due to him (posting as well as refreshing). So, what’s next for Amos? He was heard loud and clear after Sherman Yeo was unanimously voted in as the President to head SMU Rugby into the 08-09 season, “You guys sort it out la, it’s not my problem anymore.” For someone who has done that much work, he has every reason to be tired.

What the future holds for SMU Rugby would be interesting. Sherman Yeo is one hell of a character who often seems like he champions the 7 Deadly Sins (including LUST recently). However, it is clear that the SMU Best Freshman Player would fall no yards short of bringing home the silverware. He has clearly displayed his intent to his fellow exco and has elaborate plans to bring SMU Rugby to the next level.

However, as the saying goes, “The legacy you face is greater than any other opposition”, Sherman’s greatest challenge will be to live up to the immaculate standards that his predecessor has set for him.

Tri-Universities Championships Report

After 6 weeks of tournament, the Tri-Universities Rugby Championships 2008 have come to an end. The tournament finished with SMU and NUS sharing the top spot, only to be differentiated by point difference. With slightly superior point difference of 10 points (SMU +30, NUS +20), the tournament champions was awarded to SMU.

Top Try Scorer

3 tries

Shafiq Zulazmi (NUS)

Jonathan Chen (NUS)

Daniel Marc Chow (SMU)

2 tries

Kenny Chan (NUS)

Sherman Yeo (SMU)

1 try

Josiah Goh (SMU)

Kevin Ang (NTU)

Ash (NTU)

Daniel Huang (NTU)

Vicknesh Sellathurai (SMU)

Giresh (NTU)

Amos Siow (SMU)

Top Point Scorer

28 points

Amos Siow (SMU)

15 points

Daniel Marc Chow (SMU)

Shafiq Zulazmi (NUS)

Jonathan Chen (NUS)

12 points

Valmiki C Nair (NUS)

10 points

Kenny Chan (NUS)

Sherman Yeo (SMU)

7 points

Josiah Goh (SMU)

5 points

Daniel Huang (NTU)

Vicknesh Sellathurai (SMU)

Giresh (NTU)

Ash (NTU)

Kevin Ang (NTU)

2 points

Daniel Thiam (NTU)

Jelvin Soh (NTU)

Top Try Scorer of the Tournament:

Shafiq Zulazmi (NUS), Jonathan Chen (NUS) & Daniel Marc Chow (SMU)

All 3 players put up a great performance throughout the tournament and were a huge driving force for the respective teams. The trio were tied for the award with 3 tries each.

Top Points Scorer of the Tournament:

Amos Siow (SMU)

Contributed a try and took most of the kicks for his team, chalking up 28 points for SMU this tournament.

Player of the Tournament:

Daniel Thiam (NTU)

One of the most experienced and capped player of the tournament. Although his side ended the tournament winless, his contribution to the team in both attack and defense was remarkable.

SMU crowned champions in finale

In a tournament that promised to be closely matched, the ending was dramatic all the way to the finish. Yesterday NUS won NTU by 17-7, but had to settle for 2nd place as they lost to SMU on a count-back by differences in points scored and conceded (they were both tied with 10 points in the league).

In the first half, NUS got off to a flying start, making numerous line breaks through their centre Muhd A'srie, but poor finishing let them down and repeatedly gave NTU a bit of respite and opportunity to clear their lines to keep the score at a deadlock. NUS always look like the more dangerous side, as they looked to have thrown all caution into the wind and were showing clear signs of going for the bonus point, by scoring 4 tries against NTU. When awarded penalties, the team opted for line outs, scrums and quick-taps, rather than putting points on the board.

The open and ‘flair-ish’ play entertained the crowd and kept every one on their toes. However, the adventurous play didn't look to have paid off as poor finishing and solid defending from NTU, kept the half time score at 5-0, courtesy of NUS prop Kenny Chan, diving over the line to score a close range try, just before half time.

After the break, NUS continued to dominate the game and were finally rewarded with a well worked try from skipper and winger Shafiq Zulazmi. Valmiki C Nair's conversion was wide and kept the score at 10-0. Shortly after the restart, NUS were back in control quickly and a clever kick in open play from Valmiki C Nair, put NTU's winger Emery Ong in all sorts of pressure, with the NUS backline closing down the space quickly, Emery 'punched' the ball out of touch just before the try-line, leaving the referee with no choice, but to award a penalty and sin-binnd Ong for the professional foul.

Instead of taking the points, NUS opted for the scrum and were duly rewarded with a try from Kenny Chan, who dived over the line for a try under the post to record his second of the match. The prop was evidently pleased with his contribution and ran up to the half way line in his celebration and took a gentleman's bow to the crowd as they cheered and applauded him. NUS's kicker Valmiki made the extra point count and brought the score to 17-0.

In need of one more try or 4 more points to secure the championship, the defending champions looked like they had this in the bag. However, NTU had other ideas and began their quest to spoil the party.

From the restart, the Boon Lay Warriors began to play with a bit more spirit and intensity as they stood up to the challenge and slowly muscled their way and put NUS on the back-feet. With good retention of the ball and forward play, the Boon Lay Warriors, finally managed to put points on the board when centre Kevin Ang battled his way through to score a try. The conversion was good and it brought the game to an interesting scoreline of 17-7 (Note: NUS needed to win NTU by a margin of 20 points or win NTU by scoring 4 tries or more to win the overall championship).

With Emery Ong returning back in the sin-bin, ill discipline by NTU saw 2 of their forwards taking their place in the sin-bin, leaving NTU to battle the closing minutes with 13 men.

With outstanding performances by NTU’s Yik Thai Hoe and Daniel Thiam, the Boon Lay Warriors held the fort, until a break from Thomas Zhang from his own 22metre line, sparked off a brilliant counter-attack. The break saw the ball move through the lightning quick NUS backline, putting their winger into ample of space. With only the NTU’s winger, Emery Ong to beat, the winger was taken down by Ong that saved NTU from conceding another try and brought the game to a close after the move broke down from a knock-on by NUS – handing SMU it’s first ever 15 a side championship.
NUS vs NTU
Scoreline: 17-7

NUS
Tries: Kenny Chan (2), Shafiq Zulazmi (1)
Conversion: Valmiki C Nair (1)

NTU
Tries: Kevin Ang (1)
Conversion: Jelvin Soh (1)