Singapore Polytechnic, Friday, 9 January 2009 – Defending champions Nanyang Technological University (NTU) goes against Republic Polytechnic (RP) to see who will emerge the 2009 Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) touch rugby winners.

NTU with the cry, “No Mercy!” were determined to defend their title but RP stood out with its pool of star players.

In less than one minute, Candy Soh from NTU was successful in her opening try for touchdown, giving NTU an early lead. RP geared up on its defence strategy.

NTU's Rowena Khoo used a dump to score another point, however she was tagged by RP's Cheryl Choy in the nick of time.

RP's Faezah Bete Radiman added to her team's score when she dived to touchdown.

RP's Cheryl Choy scored a point when she managed to break NTU's defence line, displaying her quick footwork.

Khoo, with the ball in hand, dashed towards touchdown, outrunning her opponents, before she was tagged by RP, she threw the ball to Angela Yong who scored for the team.

Her team member Valerie On also scored a spectacular goal at the wings. The two teams were constantly neck and neck with each other.

RP responded with four goals of their own, tied with NTU. The final horn sounded and the score was 4-4.

Sudden Death had to be carried out, adding to an already high-strung stadium. For Sudden Death, the first team to score a try wins, after every minute, each team will reduce their playing strength by one on-field player.

Fraught with tension, both teams put up strong defences, with no point by either team till there were only three members in each side.

At this moment, NTU's Neo Kehui, in possession of the ball, outran the rival team and was given a clear path to touchdown.

The result? NTU successfully won the championship trophy for the second year running. Congratulations to NTU!

Cladia Chng, player from RP says, “We really tried our best. But I guess our flaw was in defence. We could have communicated better in that area and squeezed more as a unit.”

Anne Goh, coach for NTU remarks, “The opponents were very good at finding our weaknesses early and executing counter attacks against us. I have to give them credit for that. In the end, the team that was more prepared in the details won."

"For example, we practised Sudden Death a lot of times before and it was what caused us the win.”