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Schools gears-up for U-18 tournament
Posted on February 4, 2012, Saturday
IN the run up to the annual MSS Sarawak inter-school U-18 tournaments for the various divisions in the state, SMK Muara Tuang of Samarahan has taken a head start, turning up last weekend for a friendly against KRFC. This shows that they are serious about the tournament and their mission to dethrone the kingpins of Samarahan. The school made their debut last year.
In the game last week, they showed that they are not overawed by Club as they did not shy away from taking the game to their club counterparts. Being a new side, playing their third tournament, if I’m not wrong, and their first as a full 15 side, they obviously are still a bit raw around the edges but with enough time between now and the start of the Samarahan tournament, I’m sure they will give their counterparts from Samarahan a good run for their money.
I reckon there will be a number of friendlies in the coming weeks between the schools from Samarahan and club as part of the schools’ preparations.
The latest update on the scene for Kuching is that 15 schools have been invited for the tournament but to date, none have yet to confirm except for SHOAW. The 15 schools that have been invited are the usual cast, with one or two making a return to the scene after a layoff of a few years.
Kolej DPAH Abdillah, being the host and organisers and also defending champions, will be the no. 1 seed, followed by SMKA Sheikh Hj. Othman Abdul Wahab aka SHOAW seeded second. SM Sains Kuching and SMK St. Joseph will be the third and fourth seeds and these 4 schools will be kept separate in the initial pool games.
The seeding are based on last year’s results, with Kolej the champions, SHOAW the first runners up and Sains Kuching and St. Joseph third and fourth. Other schools that have been invited are SMK Agama Matang, Teknik Sejingkat, Maktab Rendah sains Mara aka MRSM, Vokasional Kuching, Vokasional Matang, SMK Penrissen, SMK Siburan, who made their debut last year. Sek Tunku Abdul Rahman aka STAR are also one of the schools invited schools while Tun Abang Hj. Openg aka TAHO and SMK St. Thomas, are making a return after a few years’ absence.
SMK Petra Jaya is another that has been invited. Sg. Tapang has dropped the game from its list of sports and so will not be playing.
These schools can easily arrange friendlies amongst themselves, or against Club or even Politeknik Kuching in the coming few weeks but then again it all depends on the various coaches
Why are SHOAW, Kolej and Asajaya successful? It is because their coaches, Zul, Zamzy and Wan Ahmad respectively, and their assistants, have their charges’ welfare at heart.
They are friendly and close to their charges and in return their charges respect them, and are ready to listen to them. Zul, Zam and Wan sacrificed a lot of their own time, and sometimes even their own funds, to train their players, and so in return, their players are willing to go that extra mile for these coaches.
Wan never really played the game in his younger days yet he has managed to produce winning sides year in, year out for his school even before he went for the coaching courses. And now that after he has done his coaching courses, he has not only built Asajaya into a strong side, he has also gone into other schools in Samarahan to set up rugby teams and now there are 3 schools in the Asajaya area playing, Asajaya, Asajaya 2 and Muara Tuang.
The northern hemisphere’s RBS 6 Nations championship will kick off this weekend with 3 matches, England against Scotland in the opener, France versus Italy today and Wales facing Ireland tomorrow.
The following few weeks will be interesting for all rugby enthusiasts with matches of the championship and the European cup shown on Astro. Most of the teams will be parading teams that are almost unknown to most of us here, as quite a few players have retired after the world cup last year.
There will be another friendly game today scheduled for 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.
