The Singapore Men’s 15s team gained promotion to the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 after beating Thailand in the final of the Division 2 tournament with a score of 38-13. Singapore put in a strong showing, going over for 6 tries in total at the Taipei Municipal Stadium.
Singapore raced to a quick lead, with Azmi Suliman going over for an early try in the 3rd minute. Singapore continued to pile on the pressure throughout the entire 80 minutes, scoring from good set piece moves as scrums and line-outs in Thailand’s territory were consistently converted into points. Teng Chong Yau, Maverick Lim and Robert Riha all got onto the scoresheet for the second game running after also scoring tries on their debuts against India. David Gull also celebrated his debut tournament with a try, while veteran Peter McFeely rounds off the try scorers.
“It was an amazing performance from the team. We trusted our game plan and believed in our own ability from the start to the final whistle. Huge shoutout to the management team and the Singapore Rugby Union for the detailed preparation from day one till the end,” commented Gaspar Tan, captain of Singapore Men’s 15s.
“The players have worked so hard this year and to play a well drilled team like Thailand in the final made it a hard job but everyone stuck to it and got the job done. We now want the players to go back to their respective clubs, recover, learn and play more rugby. Division 1 next year is going to be very tough and we want to keep this momentum going forward to ensure our national team gets better each season. We have developed an amazing spirit and culture in the team and I want this to carry on,’ noted Frazer McArdell, Head Coach of Singapore.
The promotion placed Singapore back into the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 which will happen tentatively in May next year.
“All of us at the Singapore Rugby Union and the wider Singapore Rugby community are delighted and proud of our national team, not just by today’s result but also in the manner of the team’s victory. We can now look forward to raising our game again to compete at the higher level in Division 1 next May(tentative). Our congratulations to all the players, coaching staff, team support and sponsors. They have all put in a tremendous effort to achieve this result and have got their just reward,” noted Mr Martin Williams, Chairman of National Team Commission.
