As the years march on it’s inevitable that we receive the sort of e-mails that we have of late, telling us of the sad news of Centaurs passing on. Here’s some good news though!
No, we have not added to the four we have already got, as the title might suggest! The youngest, and only boy of the brood, Nick, was selected for the Singapore U19 National rugby team that played in the Asian RFU tournament in Dec last year. It also doubled up as the Asian qualifying leg for the one place available in the B group of the U19 Rugby World Cup to be played in Belfast in April this year
I’d love to be saying, “I’ll see you in Belfast!” but it was not to be. In the first round of the knock-out type of tournament they played the might of Asian rugby, Japan, (who have already qualified for the A Group in Belfast, since they came 11th out of 12 in the 2006 World Cup in Dubai).
Singapore were therefore up against it, but what an experience for the boys to play against the best in Asia. They were three trys down within 8 minutes so even the most optimistic Singapore supporters (me!) began to fear just how many points the boys from the “Land of the Rising Sun” would get. Shouldn’t have worried since they picked themselves up, took the game to Japan and held out until just before half time, scoring a penalty to boot. Even in the second half, when Japan hit top gear and ran in more trys, Singapore heads did not drop and they continued to take opportunities to “take them on”. The final score though was 58 – 6 to Japan
Next game was against Thailand who were there for the taking, even though Singapore were playing “catch-up” rugby from 20 – 0 down early in the second half. They fought back to score two trys within 10 minutes of the second half but there was no scoring from either side thereafter. If only the attack had functioned as it subsequently did against Sri Lanka and if only those periods of loss of concentration hadn’t happened. Final score 20 – 10 to Thailand
It was “nip and tuck” in the final game, against Sri Lanka, right up to just over ten minutes to go with Singapore leading 23 – 22. Again lapses in concentration allowed Sri Lanka to run in two very stoppable trys, making the final score 34 – 23 to Sri Lanka
So, played three, lost three, but a great experience for the boys, having played three games of rugby in five days at a much higher standard than they’d experienced to date
A couple of photos; Nick’s the size I wanted to be when I played and he’s still only 17! He plays prop and has already developed into using some of that front-row union speak! Maria reckons it’s her Dad’s side of the family but I’m trying to recall just how big the milkman was when we lived in South Wimbledon!