By Zara Nicole Toh (13A01B), Jeremy Yew (13A01B) and Jonathan Tan (13A01C)
Photos by Claudia Koh, Tiffany Ow and Naman Shah from Raffles Photographic Society
Organised by the Touch Rugby girls, IHC Touch Rugby was certainly the place to be for high-speed entertainment, kicking off at the main field on a grey Friday evening. The boy’s results were pretty mixed, with many teams having both draws and wins, and no clear-cut leader. On the other hand, the BW girls dominated that Friday with 3 wins out of 3 matches. Unfortunately, the contrast was stark between the weather and the hyped-up atmosphere, enthusiastic players and a strong showing of supporters; dark clouds rolled in throughout the entire afternoon. Halfway through the matches, the heavens opened up and rain poured down with such a purpose that the games had to be postponed to Monday evening.
The postponed matches were played on Monday evening at the Marymount field with some new players, as many who had played on Friday could not make it on Monday. This allowed for some degree of uncertainty as some players had to play with new and unfamiliar teams. However, the smaller turnout of spectators and players did not deter the touch rugby players, who were all there for one reason—to fight for their house, and to have fun!
The competition on the boy’s side was tight, with MR eventually earning a place in the finals with a total of two draws (against MT and HH) and two wins (against BB and BW). All attention turned to the remaining round-robin match between HH and MT that would decide who faced MR in the finals, BW or MT. By a twist of fate, BW’s spot in the finals relied on MT either losing or drawing with HH, who were the underdogs throughout the tournament. Well, the wishes of the BW supporters came true as the exciting match ended with a recorded score of 4-4. It had been decided: MR and BW were to play in the finals.
Throughout the final boys’ match, BW’s experienced rugby players and strong runners ensured that they kept a steady lead of one or two tries ahead of MR. Despite having been overcome by MR during the round-robin stages, they exacted their revenge as they won with a final score-line of 7-5. The female side of the field saw a parallel in outcomes; with both MR and BW making it into the final and BW eventually emerging victors. The double victory helped BW maintain their slim lead ahead of MR as the Sports IHCs season drew to a close.
It must be said that despite countless situations where rulings were ambiguous and heatedly contested by adrenaline-pumped players and spectators, the Touch Rugby girls admirably kept their cool amidst the shouts of “touch first meh”, “that was so forward pass”, “eh offside la” or “referee kayu” and stuck to their decisions as referees.
Also held on Monday at the adjacent Marymount Field, Frisbee was a popular IHC as it drew both participants and supporters alike. After a good showing by all participating teams, BB emerged as winners of IHC Frisbee with MR and MT coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Day 7 marked the last day of IHCs, and the fate of the Houses and the points they have accumulated now lay in the outcome of the IHC Track and Field relay events. We are sure that all of you had bucketloads of fun participating in the various IHCs and engaging in friendly competition against your batchmates, all in the name of House spirit! Now, we wait with bated breath for the final House standings to be announced.
