By Valerie Chia

NEVER had the final whistle sounded so sweet to Leonard Yap.

The Raffles Institution (Junior College) rugby captain fell to his knees in front of his father, Henry, and clenched the sweat-soaked grass as he buried his head in his dad's shoulder and wept.

Raffles had just won the Schools National A Division rugby crown, after defeating Anglo-Chinese Junior College 8-3 at the Old Police Academy yesterday.

Described by his dad as 'an emotional boy since childhood', No. 8 Leonard said: 'There were so many thoughts going through my mind after the match.

'The main one was how hard we trained. We wanted to win so badly as we'd never made it to a final in our six years together since Secondary 1.'

This triumph meant that the trophy was back in Raffles' fold for the fourth time since 2000. ACJC too won four times since then, though their last success was in 2005.

The match kicked into high tempo when ACJC drew first blood after just five minutes - full-back Muhammad Fadhil scored a 30m penalty for three points.

Raffles' reply was swift. Minutes later, scrum-half Mohammad Saifuludin muscled his way past the ACJC defenders and threw himself over the left corner for a try.

But Leonard missed the conversion, and the score stayed at 5-3 for the rest of the scrappy first half. It saw a slew of missed catches and penalties, with both sides failing to keep possession after winning the line-outs.

All that changed in the second half. Both teams' play improved several notches as they displayed aggression and focus, ploughing into each other's half seeking valuable points.

Raffles' persistence paid off 20 minutes later, when they were awarded a penalty from 35m out which Leonard stepped up to take.

After missing two penalties and one conversion in the first half, the pressure on him was immense. But he steeled himself and sent the ball flying through the posts to give his team an 8-3 lead, which they held till the end.

He said: 'I knew I had to knock it in to increase our lead and, thankfully, when it mattered most, I didn't miss.'

It was heartbreak for the ACJC players, whose tear-stained faces were devoid of smiles even during the prize presentation.

Said their captain Peter Wang: 'Raffles played very well and pinned us in our own half, we couldn't really do much. We gave everything we had and have to learn to accept the result and move on.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.