Games and Scores:

Group Stage - :
1) Polytechnic Shah Alam 17-5
2) Fijian Uniten 5-12
3) Perlis 0-24
4) Uitm msia B 7-5
5) Kelantan 28-0

Knock-Out Stage - :

6) Plate semis Trenganu 17-5
7) Plate finals Pahang 19-0

The University Teknologi Mara (UiTM in short) sports fiesta is an event held by UiTM (Shah Alam) to bring together sportsmen from all over the region, namely Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, to celebrate sporting excellence. The 5 day long event had a wide variety of sports which included Sepak Takraw, Rugby 7s, Bowling, Badminton, and Futsal.

NTU rugby team was one of two Singapore varsity teams that were invited to participate in this sports fiesta in Malaysia, the other team being Singapore Institute of Management.
Some may think the term ‘fiesta’ meant that the tournament was merely an exhibition one, but in actual fact, it was as competitive as it could be. Many of the various universities from Malaysia boasted National age group players, while some other universities had the backing of experienced players doing their post graduate studies. The NTU team, for one, took this tournament very seriously, as we looked to prep our team for the upcoming SUNIG 7s (Singapore University Games) in September.

Team NTU kicked off the tournament with a convincing 17-5 victory over Polytechnic Shah Alam, with 3 different players (Qing Yao, Fadzil and Aidil) scoring tries to open their accounts in the competition. However, it was not to be smooth sailing for the boys from Boon Lay, as we suffered 2 consecutive defeats, and lost our inspirational captain, Ang Tze Shien. One thing to note was that the 2-3 days before the trip were filled with bad news, as players had to withdraw from the trip due to personal reasons. The most significant loss was vice-captain cum star player Sidney Kumar, who broke his nose while playing for his club. Therefore with the injury of Tze Shien (better known as Tze to the team), the team was effectively down to 10 men, when 14 players a team were a norm.

Whatever the team may have lacked in numbers, they certainly made up for it with heart. Pure determination, and the desire to go for one more yard, one more point. One incident pretty much summed up the spirit of the team: When Tze laid down on the field in pain, clutching his torn knee ligaments, the medics with the stretcher were ready to carry him out. That was when Tze exclaimed, ‘No way am I going out on a stretcher! You boys carry on, and go win it!’
What verve, what spirit, displayed by the NTU captain fantastic.

It was obvious that the unfortunate injury suffered by Tze inspired the rest of the team, as we went on to register 3 back to back victories, and in the process, securing our berth in the Plate Finals against the team from Pahang. In the finals, we fought hard, and eventually steamrolled over our opponents 19-0 to secure the Plate Championship, ending the tournament on a high note.

To conclude, 3 words at the end of Tze’s post finals interview summed up the performance of the newly crowned Plate champions—Well done boys.

Edited by CQY