2022 SASS EL Prelims P1 SectC w Ans

Qn4: “I felt really proud of my contribution to the team.” Write about a time that you felt like this. Ball in my hands, sweat dripping down my face and the taste of bitter and disgusting mud was in my mouth. Emotions were at an all-time high with everything to play for. It was a hero or zero moment where the victor would gain everything and the loser would lose everything, drowning in sadness and sorrow. The score was all square at zero-zero during the highly anticipated cup final between Oldham rugby club and Saints rugby club. Everyone was exhausted and had put everything on the line for their respective club. It was a true test of character and resilience to see who would blink first and make a mistake in this neck and neck battle. Each team had played their strongest team but there was nothing to separate the two teams. An intense blockbuster thirty minutes of the first half had ended. Demolishing tackles, humongous efforts to score and colossal runs at each other were nowhere near enough to break Oldham’s impenetrable defensive line. My teammates and I were dumbfounded with how technical and skilled they were. It was going to take a bus charging at full speed to penetrate that defensive line. We were all drained and had nothing left in the tank and did not know whether we could keep up that high pace for much longer. We turned to our bright light in the darkness to see whether we had a knight in shining armour: Coach Marcus. However, to our surprise, he was at a loss for words and did not know how to respond to the battle he had witnessed. Just like that, our bright light to guide us to victory had vanished and the darkness of tiredness and aching of our body had overwhelmed us and consumed us. The second half was like night and day from our first-half performance. We had been over-run by Oldham’s constant and relentless pressure. The first 10 minutes of the second half was a massacre. Three tries had been conceded with all of them converted. It was now looking like a landslide victory for Oldham and an embarrassing defeat for Saints. Some of our supporters had lost all hope and could no longer bear the humiliation of the one- sided contest so they had begun to leave with a look of disgust on their faces while Oldham’s supporters were as happy as can be cheering, singing and even taunting members of the Saints family. This image in my head kept on replaying and sparked a fire in me brighter than ever. During moments like this one shall rise and one shall fall. I suddenly had many flashbacks of all the tough times I had in preparing for this final. All the blood, sweat and tears put into our journey to reach this final would have been wasted and for nothing if this was our fate to lose embarrassing fashion. The perfect opportunity had presented itself for me to make a change and be the difference. I spoke my heart out and held onto every small bit of hope for victory left. The eyes of my teammates had