LATEST on the UPM/MLNG organised Bintulu 10’s. The tournament has been scheduled for the first weekend of December,namely on Dec 4. The trophy is sponsored by Datuk Seri Tiong and the tournament is scheduled for one day only.
Tournament venue is UPM campus in Bintulu and so far the organisers are looking at 6 teams participating. Invitations have been sent out to local sides in the state and at time of writing the only sides that have confirmed are the hosts, UPM, MLNG and Miri. I will keep everyone posted on updates on this event in the coming weeks leading up to it. Sibu will be across the waters for another tournament on the same weekend so it will be very doubtful if they will be in Bintulu on the December 4. Meanwhilethis weekend across the waters, the Cobra 10’s will be held at the Kelana Jaya stadium in Selangor while in early December, namely Dec 4 and 5, the national 7’s for clubs and U-19’s will be hosted by Negri Sembilan.
Sibu have confirmed that they will be going for the club category while SMKA Sheikh Hj. Othman Abdul Wahab aka SHOAW are going for the U-19 category as they were the runnersup last year when the tournament was held in Ipoh. This is one of the major national level tournaments on the calendar which is open to clubs of the MRU’s affiliates. Defending champions for club is Kelantan while the U-19 is Negri Sembilan. In the recent second IRB Asian 7’s/Borneo 7’s tournaments in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Sibu ended their campaign in the bowl semi-finals when they lost to Sabah’s Sandakan Eagles.
This weekend’s Cobra 10’s will be shown live on Astro’s channel 801 as was the recent tournament in Sabah 2 weeks ago. This is certainly a boon for local rugby supporters and enthusiasts who can’t make it to Selangor for the tournament. With the games shown live on TV, the game will certainly get a much needed shot in the arm as for too long the game has been neglected by the sporting channels and at best received just scant coverage on the various sports channels as a summary of the week’s sporting events. Hopefully the national 7’s next month in Seremban will also receive coverage by the channel. Hopefully Astro’s channel will do more coverage of the game throughout the nation instead of just the major ones across the waters and this will certainly raise the game’s profile amongst the public who do not really understand the game, its ethos, rules and laws and the way it’s played. To the general sporting public the game is still in many ways a mystery to them and hopefully with more live coverage of the game and local tournaments on TV, the myth of the game being a rough game will soon be dispelled. And at same time encourage more people to pick up the game which is something that the game has been trying to do for a long time.
When the game is demystified and debunked as a rough game throughmore exposure on TV then its popularity and appeal will grow on the general public. This will hopefully and ultimately lead to a higher profile for the game which will hopefully attract more people to want to play the game and consequently more funds to flow into the game via sponsorships. Presently it is a never ending story and struggle for the game’s administrators, especially locally, to source for funds and sponsorship to promote and develop the game and run tournaments. I will not delve into the matter again here as I have expounded quite a bit in my previous columns already.
On the schools’ rugby front, a school that has not participated in schools tournaments over the last couple of years will soon be back in the fray. SMK Penrissen No. 1 which used to be one of the stronger schools in rugby will have a new principal who is very active in the game, next year. Louis Simon Peter, a club member and former vice president of SRU has been posted to SMK Penrissen No. 1 and with his posting to the school, the game will certainly see a revival. And Laurence Clement, the coach of the school team, will be chuffed to bits with this development as he will certainly be, and can count on, getting full support from Louis in his efforts to promote the game in the school. The players in SMK Penrissen have always wanted to play the game and participate in the various schools’ tournaments but have not been able to do so.
According to Laurence the game has a strong following in the school with lots of players wanting to play but circumstances beyond his control over the past couple of years has meant that the school has missed out on a generation of players picking up and playing the game. For those players who are in their final year in school next year, the dropping of the game over the last couple of years were certainly lost years for this batch of players. While for those who are still in school it will certainly be something for them to look forward to and catch up to their counterparts from the other schools. With Louis and Laurence sorting out the players and team, expect Penrissen to make a mark in the various schools’ tournaments next year as the players who are still in school will be out to make up for lost time and opportunities.
Locally, aside from the upcoming Datuk Seri Tiong/Bintulu 10’s, there are no more tournaments and for most of the clubs it will be the usual diet of weekly friendlies until next year. Sibu will be preparing for the national 7’s while for the players in Miri they have games in Brunei to look forward to.
In Kuching, the next ‘tournament’ on the calendar is the annual Louis Simon Peter trophy between the over 30’s and under 30’s for players in Kuching. This has been slated for sometime in December and it will be a much anticipated match for both sets of players for their own reasons.
For the over 30’s it will give them the chance to extend their winning sequence over the under 30’s and bragging rights for another year. For the over’s a win over the under’s will send the message to their counterparts that they still have it and are not over the hill yet, that they can still match their younger counterparts and win.
While for the under’s a win will be their chance to tell their seniors that they are here and ready to take over the mantle. So it should be an interesting match up with the seniors having experience and guile on their side while their counterparts have youthful energy and exuberance.
The seniors are already working on gathering as many of their counterparts to turn up on the day of the match to ensure a win while the juniors will be working extra hard in the run up to make sure that this year they win the match and trophy. Some of the juniors have gained much needed experience from having played a few more games and tournaments and so are expected to lead the side from the front to look for a win.
For the schools, SMKA Sheikh Hj. Othman Abdul Wahab have just returned from a playing tour to Sabah 2 weeks ago as part of their 10th anniversary celebration of school rugby club. Their U-15 side will be travelling to Kedah this month for the national MSSM-Milo invitational U-15 10’s. In the Samarahan division Encik Wan Ahmad of SMK Asajaya has penned in a clinic for students from 4 primary schools in Samarahan division although the dates for this have yet to be firmed up.
The last time I spoke to Wan he has said that it will be in November but to date I have yet to receive any communication from him regarding this.