Bedok Kings capped a tremendous season last night, claiming home the Singapore Cup with a three tries to two, 19-15 win over the Brewerkz Bucks at Yio Chu Kang stadium. The Kings’ defensive screen proved the winner as they completed the coveted league and cup Double, thwarting an impressive but late offensive effort by the Bucks to condemn them to their second successive cup failure against the Kings.

It was an exciting contest between two evenly matched teams and the final margin really suggested a closer encounter than was actually the case.

In keeping with the tension befitting of a cup final, both teams made a jittery start - right from the kick-off when Bucks failed to kick the ball past 10m. Despite early edgy exchanges, Bucks was quick to settle into composure and dominated the forward play in the early minutes, with Ben Wheeler capitalising on sluggish scrum defence to break through, but the Bedok backline was on song to contain the Bucks skipper.

Bucks controlled the majority of the match in the first half as they relentlessly piled up the pressure during the first quarter of the game. Bedok Kings will have winger Andrew ‘Flash’ Kagoro and fullback Dallas Pitches to thank as they kept Bucks scoreless, defending brilliantly and foiling any breaking runs by the Bucks backline.

Flyhalf John Forrester was unlucky not to give Bedok the lead as his 10th minute penalty struck the left-hand post.

An 18th minute penalty were the only points mustered by the Bucks after a long spell of pressure and territorial dominance.

The opening try of the game came shortly through neat phases of play and some quick recycling of the ball by the Bucks forwards. Aaron ‘Juggernaut’ Browne received the ball on the blind side and a strong run took him across the line at the left-hand corner to give Bucks a handy lead of 8-0.

The lead soon evaporated as the Kings regained their composure and in-form winger Flash took centre stage. A breakout in the 27th minute of play from the Bedok forwards saw neat exchanges of passes between brothers Rongy and Rebel Rong. After a quick ball out to the backline, NTU’s Daniel ‘Potato’ Thiam committed the last defenders and breached the Bucks defence before putting Flash through for the Kings’ first try of the game.

A successful conversion by Forrester narrowed the score to 8-7.

Flash would then increase the lead for Bedok in the 34th minute, scoring an inspiring breakout try after a quick, last gasp pass from Thiam, as he outpaced the static covering defence and claimed his second try of the game.

A second successful conversion by Forrester brought the score to 8-14, going into the interval.

The second half had a controversial moment when a collapsed Bucks driving maul from a 5m-lineout was deemed to be due to an intentional player infringement; with Bucks awarded a penalty try just halfway through the second half, edging into the lead at 15-14 after a successful conversion.

Stand-out fullback Dallas Pitches made an incisive run in the 67th minute on the short side as he committed two defenders before sending winger Eric Ng sprinting over for a well-earned try, and established a crucial lead of four points.

Forrester was unlucky with the conversion attempt as he struck the post once more, leaving the score standing at 15-19 to the Kings.

The Bucks had the better of the final ten minutes but it was a story of ‘too little and too late’. Despite pressing hard in the dying minutes and way deep into injury time, Bucks were unable to break through a resolute Bedok defence that stood brave in the face of adversity.

The final whistle eventually arrived and by then the crowd of supporters were already clanging with delight and a pulsating, ear-splitting cacophony to greet Bedok Kings’ second successive cup triumph.

Club captain Gus McKay was in a jubilant euphoria at the sound of the fulltime whistle.

“We’ve worked hard all season and today we played our guts out for each other. And with a crowd like this, how can we not be inspired,” said Gus as he dedicated the victory to the ever-faithful club supporters.

When asked about the length of the injury time played, Bedok boss Tony King unleashed the fury well-known to all, “The referee is a f**king c**t. It’s supposed to be a game of two HALVES, for f**k sake.”

On his two assists of the game, Thiam revealed, “I knew I had to get the ball out wide. And when you have Flash on the outside, a try-scoring opportunity is always there for the taking.”

When asked on his contribution to the build-up for Bedok’s first try, Rebel Rong remains humble, honest and down-to-earth in his own way, “I am damn good. Do you know what my jersey number stands for? I am number one. I am the best.”

Head coach Danny ‘Stone Cold’ Tauroa was unruffled during Bedok’s pulsating catch-up game in the second half and remained cool after the victory.

“We talked about taking the game to them and this was a real pressure game today. To play the way we did showed great confidence and we played really well when we had the ball. When they had the ball, we kept a really good defensive shape and it was an impressive team effort altogether,” said Tauora.