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Sibu Swans proved their mettle at Bintulu 10’s championship
Posted on December 10, 2011, Saturday
SPOON CHAMP: Dolphins from UPM pose for photocall after the closing of Bintulu 10’s on Sunday. Dolphins defeated the host, Bintulu RC 12-5 in the Spoon final to lift the trophy at UPM field.
THE second Bintulu 10’s, organised and hosted by Bintulu Rugby Club last week was a success, which saw 12 teams in Bintulu, the host and organiser, Bintulu RC, Sibu Swans and Barbarians, KRFC, MDRU Rhinos and Hornbills, Universiti Putra Malaysia aka UPM Dolphins, UNIMAS, UiTM Sarawak Hunters, Politeknik Mukah Sarawak, Shoaw Old Boys and Warriors.
UiTM and UPM Dolphins were making their debuts in the tournament.
The 12 teams were drawn into 4 pools of 3 on Friday evening at the managers’ meeting with defending champions, Sibu Swan, UNIMAS and Miri Hornbills in pool A, while in pool B were Miri Rhinos, Shoaw Warriors and UPM Dolphins. In pool C were Shoaw Old Boys, Bintulu Rc, the host, and UiTM while the remaining teams, KRFC Blackcatz, Sibu Barbarians and Politeknik Mukah were in pool D.
The pool preliminary games and the quarter-finals for the cup were played on Saturday with the semi-finals knock-out stages for the 4 divisions on Sunday.
In pool A, Swans easily topped the pool with 2 victories, 19-0 against UNIMAS and 40-0 against the Hornbills while the latter 2 played to a 5-5 stalemate with UNIMAS taking second in the pool due to their better points difference.
In pool B, the Warriors took first followed by Rhinos and Dolphins, with both Warriors and Rhinos defeating the Dolphins by identical scores of 12-0 while the Warriors drew 7 all against the Dolphins.
The Old Boys topped pool C with their win against the host, Bintulu RC and draw against UiTM Hunters with scores of 22-0 and 5-5 respectively while the Hunters took second spot with their win 14-0 against Bintulu.
In pool D, it was the Blackcatz who led with a draw and win against Barbarians and Poli Mukah, 5-5 and 14-0 respectively while Poli Mukah went down to the Barbarians 0-5.
In the cup quarters matches on Saturday afternoon, featuring cross-overs between the winners of each pool versus the first runners-up of the next pool, saw Swans facing Rhinos, Warriors against UNIMAS, Old Boys versus Barbarians and Blackcatz against Hunters.
The wooden spoonists of each pool went into the spoon semi-finals while the losing quarter-finalists went into the bowl semi-finals, scheduled for Sunday. Losers of the cup/plate event went into the bowl event while the losing semi-finalists for the cup/plate event vied for the plate. The spoon semi-finalists were Hornbills against Dolphins and Bintulu versus Mukah Poli.
In the first of the quarter-finals between Swans and Rhinos, it was the former who won 10-5 after extra time with the match drawn 5-5 at the end of regulation time. In the second match, the Warriors won 10-5 against UNIMAS while the Old Boys defeated Barbarians 10-0 in the third match. In the last quarter-final between Blackcatz and Hunters, it was the latter who won 12-7.
The semi-final pairings for the bowl were Rhinos against UNIMAS and Barbarians versus Blackcatz while the pairings for the cup/plate semis saw Swan facing Warriors and Old Boys taking on Hunters. In the spoon semis, the Dolphins despatched off the Hornbills 19-0 while Bintulu won 7-0 against Mukah Poli to set-up a final match-up. In the bowl semis, the Rhinos won 14-0 against UNIMAS while Barbarians won 17-5 against Blackcatz. The semis for the cup/plate saw arguably the top 4 sides in Bintulu last weekend facing off and in the first semi, the Swans were too strong for the Warriors, despatching their opponents 26-0 to claim one of the final spots.
In the second semi-final, the winners had to be decided by a toss of the coin, because there was nothing to separate the 2 teams, Old Boys and Hunters. The game finished 0-0 even after extra time and drop goal attempts from the 22 meter line. It was definitely a hard decision for the losing team after the coin toss but with both sides evenly matched and no result, it came down to luck and it was the Old Boys who rode their luck to win the toss to move into the cup final against Swans while the Hunters went into a plate face off against the Warriors.
In the spoon final between Dolphins from UPM and the host, Bintulu RC, it was the former who lifted the trophy with a 12-5 victory. The Rhinos from Miri took home the bowl after winning 26-0 against the Barbarians of Sibu. The plate was won by Hunters of UiTM after winning 12-7 against SHOAW Warriors.
The finale, the cup final between the top 2 teams last weekend, defending champions, Sibu Swans and Shoaw Old Boys, saw the Swans won 24-0 against the Old Boys to retain their title. With the win Swans took home RM 1500.00 while the Old Boys took home RM 800.00. The other winners received trophies and medals. All the winners except for the Sibu Swans, failed to retain their titles.
The surprise package this year was UiTM Sarawak Hunters, who won the plate. They had in their ranks a few former players from Shoaw who had represented their alma mater and the state in various schools’ tournaments and sukma over the last few years. The Warriors are current players for Shoaw in the U-15 and U-18 teams, and they will have gained invaluable experience from this tournament and their trip to the recent Curtin 10’s for next year’s assault on the U-15 and U-18 titles.
The Swans, with their win, again showed why they are the top side in local rugby while the Old Boys, although having the experience, lack the fitness to trouble the Swans in the cup final.
To the organisers and hosts, Fadzli Ahmad, Haidar and their merry band from Bintulu RC, congratulations and well done for a good job in organising, hosting and running the tournament and to all the teams who were in Bintulu last weekend, thanks for making it a success. And to the referees who were in Bintulu to assist to the tournament’s success, Ali Tahar, Tim Lian, Ismawi Mohd. Hj. Noor, Nazri K. Hamid, Andreias and Haiday Asyraf. And especially the various sponsors, Maysville Sdn. Bhd., MLNG Sdn. Bhd., Sapura Crest Petroleum Berhad, Crescent Engineering (M) Sdn. Bhd. and Bunga Tenaga Sdn. Bhd., for chipping in to assist with the sponsorships to contribute to the tournament’s success.
Today, the annual Louis Simon Peters trophy for the over 30’s and under 30’s will be played, and Louis is looking for more of the over’s to turn up and give the under’s a run for their money and win the cup. This year, the over’s appear to be rather thin on the ground, unlike in previous years when they had the numbers to put out a strong side, in fact most of the players for the over’s are actually close to the 40 mark.
The under’s certainly have the advantage going into today’s match and are confident that they will win the match and the trophy.
The game will kick off at 4.30 pm at the Song Kheng Hai ground along Padungan Road and everyone who is interested in running out for a game are most welcome to turn up at the field before 4.30 pm. Jumpers for the game will be provided by Club, so any interested party just need to bring along their own pair of shorts, stockings and boots. Will the over’s pull one over the under’s this time around?
