Eleven-try Singapore crush brave Malaysia

Singapore's Amanda Chua gets to grips with Malaysia's Nora Ashikin Bt Abd Basik

The highly anticipated game between Singapore and Malaysia kicked off with damp conditions at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium on Sunday, making controlling the ball in hand that little bit harder for both teams.

 

It did not take long for the home side to gain the confidence they would need to win this game and in the second minute a well worked lineout led to a drive by the forwards collapsing inside the Malaysian 22m. Fast ball was fed through the hands to fullback Leung Wai-Mun with a slight over lap to run it in just to the right of the posts. The conversion was taken by open-side flanker and skipper, Wang Shao-Ing, who brought the score to 7-0.

 

For the following eight minutes Singapore played some very good attacking rugby, but solid Malaysian defence stopped the home side from extending their lead. Singapore’s patience paid off when a poor clearance kick handed them a lineout 5m out from the visitor’s line. A great take in the lineout was brought down and a solid tight maul set up. Singapore drove their way to the line with Wang touching down.

 

Still with only eleven minutes on the clock fly-half Eunice Tay made a good clearing kick to relieve some pressure and a great follow up led to the Malaysian player who retrieved the ball being caught inside her own half. From the tackle Leung turned over the ball and ran unopposed under the posts.

Singapore (white) pack down with Malaysia (blue)

With the score now 17-0, the Singapore team had started to settle into a rhythm and were playing some good running rugby. Malaysia, despite the early disadvantage was not giving anything away cheaply.

 

In the 21st minute, another kick and good chase was turned over in the tackle again by Leung, resulting in a carbon copy of her last try with a virtually unopposed break from the ruck.  With Wang finding her kicking rhythm, the conversion was successful, leaving the score standing at 26-0.

From a scrum at half-way, No.8 Ang Wei Yi picked up from the base and ran, drawing a defender before feeding Amanda Teo on the wing where she was tackled by the cover defence. Quickly recycled ball from the Singapore forwards was moved wide by Tay to prop forward Nur Azurah Binte Mohamed Khalid, who was given too much space and with a burst of speed touched down left of the posts.  Wang took the conversion successfully to bring the score to 31-0.

 

Another try came quickly for the home side in the 29th minute through outside centre Kristy Teh who burst through a scrambling defence to find the line.

Singapore's Aslinda Abdullah and Malaysia's Sarah McCauley contest possession

For the remainder of the half the Malaysian team played extremely well and started putting Singapore under a lot of pressure with some hard destructive running from tight-head prop Rozzaiti Che Roslee and some solid backline defence led by fly-half Normasyirah Zahari. Singapore was made to defend close to their try line for the final ten minutes of the half, but close to the end of the first half, Teo crushed Malaysian hopes by beating two covering defenders on her 70m break down the wing. Tay converted the try to bring the half-time score to 43-0.

 

The Malaysians started the 2nd half with renewed vigour and contested fiercely at every breakdown. However, their inexperience at the scrum allowed Ang to run freely and this was to be the cause of their woes in the second half.

Wang Shao-Ing, Ang Weiyi and Lee Tao Jing secure ruck ball.

 

A break from the scrum by the No.8 saw blind-side flanker Annabel Woo in support and she sliced through the central defence of the Malaysian team. Although she was stopped just short of the line the resulting recycle led to a further Singapore score.

 

 

Another quick scrum break allowed Singapore to attack the open-side with Angela Zheng making good yards before she was tackled 5m from the line. Two quick pick and goes saw replacement loose-head Chan Jiahui cross the line to score near the corner.

 

Soon after, Singapore exploited the space on the blind-side, with scrum-half Tan Hui Juan running in towards the posts bringing the score to 57-0.

 

The next and last try of the match was to come not too long before the final whistle. After excellent play at the line-out, the ball was moved right. With great handling the ball reached Teo on the right wing and she trundled over for her 2nd try from just outside the 22.  The score stood at 63-0 and remained that way until the end of the game. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text courtesy: Euan Morrison

 

Images courtesy: Kong Ping

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