SMU Rugby Clinches Team of the Year Award!

SMU Rugby got a great boost to their season when they were named SSU (SMU Sports Union) Team of the Year, the highest accolade for the team that emerged within top four at inter-varsity leagues or equivalent events and has contributed to the Sports Fraternity in one main or two sub events, at the annual SSU Sports Awards Night 2009 two weeks ago. This is the first time SMU Rugby has made it to prestigious list, which includes SMU Sailing and SMU Fencing. This award joins SMU Rugby's bulging cabinet which still has an empty place for the 2009 Tri-Unis Cup.

"It is a great honor to win this because there are so many great teams in SMU at the moment," said President, Sherman Yeo.

The annual SSU Sports Awards Night was a close-knit affair that brought the SMU Sports fraternity together; saluting undergraduates who have left their mark on the school's sporting history vis-à-vis sporting excellence.

The judging panel of both SSU (SMU Sports Union) and OSL (Office of Student's Life) voted based on the achievements and contributions of the various nominated teams, with the year officially running from the start of 2008 till the end of SUNIG (Singapore Universities Games) back in August last year. In that period, SMU Rugby won the inaugural Tri-Unis Championship 2008 & SUNIG 7s. It was the only sports team in SMU to be crowned champions in SUNIG 2008.

Daniel Marc Chow, current skipper of SMU Rugby, who has seen the ups and downs of SMU Rugby since it was established back in 2004 said, "This is a great achievement for SMU Rugby. We have come a long way since playing in our first official game back in 2005 and being the whipping boys of the university rugby fraternity. We wouldn't have won this award if not for the players, staff, management and our ardent supporters. Thank you guys!"

Another ACL story

What looks like a promising season for the City Boys, has turned into a last minute disaster. With Captain Daniel Marc already confirmed to be missing the first match against NTU, blindside flanker Lionel "robber" Poh has been reported to be out for the rest of the season. The reckless and crazy flanker, who is known for his beasty tackles and robber-like techniques in the rucks has been reported to have torn both his MCL and ACL during SMU recent friendly match against ACJC.

The ACL victim list has been slowly growing over the years and some rumored that it is a mark of true legends, something that past-victim Desmond Wee will 'testify' to. In 2005, when the "Weezer" suffered a similar injury, the latter actually believe that the injury was more of a fashion statement than a rugby injury - but that's the zoolander for you.

Meanwhile. this injury is really going to be a huge blow to the City Boys and one can only wonder who will be filling the big shoes of this two important forwards for the SMU team. This will certainly cause some headache for the newly appointed SMU coach Rong JingXiang.

Not so interesting Facts:

Past ACL victims
1. Desmond Wee
2. Muhd A'srie
3. Lionel Robinson
4. Mohd Raihan
5. Valmiki C Nair
6. Justin Lum
7. Lionel Poh
8.......

Where in the World is Refresher Siow??

As the highly anticipated Tri-Uni's draw steadily nearer, the much talked about Cityboys recently received an urgent rallying cry to

"STEP UP AND BE COUNTED"

Said President Sherman Yeo solemnly at our last scheduled press conference: "NUS think they can have a go at us but lets prove them wrong. I know that mid terms/presentations/assignments are piling up but now is really the time for us to make some sacrifices."

One notable name from last year's historic Tri-University's victory however, remained unaccounted for. The question on everyone's lips: "Where in the World is Refresher Siow??"

In order to set the matter to rest, your ever-loyal, totally objective reporters here at SMURugby News took an overnight flight to the far reaches of the known world (where Amos was last seen on exchange), in order to bring you some answers. At present, little is known of the fate of this legendary SMU Old Guard except for a rumoured Spring signing with the Copenhagen Business School Rugby Club for an as yet undisclosed amount. We also found this "refreshing" little gem:


What all this shocking news amounts to, we leave to you our treasured readers to conclude on your own terms. SMU Veteran Vice-President Chew Yin Xiang however, was quick to give an answer. In an exclusive interview Mouff Chew gave us the low down.

"We at SMU Rugby are not worried about the absence of our beloved Refresher. Although we deeply miss him, we cannot comment on his personal activities overseas and can only wish him the very best. In the meantime, our ranks are swelling with talent. We would like to introduce to you, our secret weapon Numero Uno, Nicolas Hwang a.k.a. The Panzer."

Named after the infamous German Tank known for both its power and speed, Panzer is rumoured to be just one of many talented centers who have stepped up to the in-center spot left open by Amos' absence.


According to Mouff, The Panzer was homegrown in the fertile soils of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, before recently being signed in a super-secret-under-the-table deal to SMU where you may have caught glimpses of this extremely classified undercover powerhouse in action on and off the field.

With the atmosphere getting tenser and more super-charged with excitement, we at SMURugby News wait in undisguised anticipation for this promising season to get into full swing. More news soon to come.

NTU in trouble?

As the annual tri-unis approach, the three universities have been hard at work training, with countless gym sessions and endless fitness sessions as some of the university boys can attest to.

However, over in the west of our sunny island, rugby powerhouses NTU have seem to run into some minor difficulties, well quite major if you consider the circumstances.

Sources close to SMU Rugby have reported that NTU have lost the services of former U-19 lock and key forward Sathish Sanmugavelu. The brown-eyed Sathish has been reported to be tired of the game and is considering hanging up his boots. NTU's Captain, Sidney Kumar, and long time friend of Sathish has been seen trying to persuade the inspirational lock to come out of retirement, reportedly offering him a leadership role in a new contract.

Sathish could not be reached for comment at press time.

Adding woe and in an unexpected move, NTU's newly signed coach, Gene Tong, has also reportedly quit the team due to some contractual issues with the Singapore Rugby Union and hence, is unable to continue being NTU's coach. Captain Sideny Kumar was not contactable at press time. This is worrying for Sidney as he tries to build a team weakend by the loss of several key players due to graduation.

What lies ahead for NTU in this upcoming competition? The future looks bleak as they face up to a much stronger NUS side filled with young talent and a dominant SMU side filled with national stars.

SMU Spotted Polishing Up their Biggest Guns For the Coming Tri-Unis

With the Tri-Unis quickly approaching on the horizon and NUS' reported determination to pose a strong challenge to their rivals from yesteryear, the SMU team was seen last Monday hitting the gym to polish up their guns.

Veteran and freshly re-appointed Captain DMC led the boys through the first of many gym sessions under the new regime of legendary ex-National Captain Rong and greatly respected coaching phenomenon Lincoln.

When interviewed while literally bending the bars in his squat routine, rising Bucks star Vick told our reporters that he was "well and truly ready for a new season of ankle-breaking madness".

With NUS more than a month into training and SMU getting on the tracks as well, the question must be asked, where is NTU in the heat of this dawn of an exciting new season?

The boys continue their training tonight. Stay tuned.

Singapore Combined Unis win Silver & Bronze

The Singapore Combined Universities Rugby 7s Squad finally arrived back in Singapore last Saturday, after enduring an 8 hour long train ride from KL.

The team who went up to KL to compete in the 3 day long tournament did well to secure a silver medal in the league competition and a bronze medal in the cup competition.

In the league competition, the Singapore side beat Laos (22-0) and Thailand (12-7), and only losing out to Malaysia (0-17), which denied them the gold.

In the cup competition, Singapore faced Thailand in the semi-finals and had to swallow a disappointing defeat of 7-14. After the defeat to the Thais, the squad showed character and blew Laos away with 39-0 scoreline, pleasing the crowd with 7 clinical tries.

The team will like to thank all the well wishes from all who supported us in one way or the other. We will also like to thank our sponsors, 6 Drunk Men and BQ bar, who played a huge part of making this tournament a success for us.

In many ways this tournament has shown that there is much talent and potential in Singapore rugby, especially among our local boys and that Singapore is no pushover in our Asean region.

Results of League Matches
Singapore v Laos (22-0)
Tries by: Lionel Poh, Daniel Thiam, Mohd Raihan (2)
Singapore v Malaysia (0-17)
Singapore v Thailand (12-7)
Tries by: Mohd Raihan and Daniel Thiam

Results of Cup Matches
Singapore v Thailand (7-14)
Try by: Amos Siow
Singapore v Laos (39-0)
Tries by: Alex Chew, Alex Ong, Daniel Marc(3), Derek Chan and Xu Renhan

Singapore Combined Universities set to leave on the 14th Dec

After 3 months of intensive training, the Singapore Combined Universities Rugby 7s squad is set to depart for KL this Sunday at 8.30am. The team coached under Lincoln Tan and Singapore's most capped rugby player, Rong JingXiang, will be set to face off with ASEAN's very best rugby university students.

Teams to look out for will be host nation, Malaysia and rugby 7s power house, Thailand. Both teams have been rumored to have a couple of National players who participated in the Rugby World Cup Qualifiers 7s (held in HongKong) a few months back. However, not to be out-done, the Singapore team will also feature a couple of National players of their own with Captain Daniel Marc Chow and Vice-Captain Derek Chan leading the team.

Former National 7s player, Justin Lum will also be making his first competitive appearance since his major knee surgery (in Dec 2007), replacing the injured Muhd A'srie, who coincidentally was forced out of the squad after sustaining an identical injury - torn ACL.

On paper, this Singapore side is looking impressive, with many of the boys having represented the state either at age-group level or at test level. The team is certainly filled with plenty of talent and potential....(and local blood TOO!) but the important thing is how far can the boys go in this tournament? and whether they can compete with the very best in ASEAN.

Only time will tell...

We wish the Singapore Combined Universities Squad the very best of luck.