Zulkaranainhisham (right), Annur (left) and Noor (right, back row) and the players celebrate their achievement on Thursday after the prize presentation.
KUCHING: SMK Agama Sheikh Haji Othman Abdul Wahab (SHOAW) made a successful defence of their crown at the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Sarawak U15 Rugby Championship at Song Kheng Hai Rugby Ground on Thursday.
The team led by coach Zulkaranainhisham Sarbini proved too good for their opponents from MRSM Kuching, beating them 22-0 in the rain-soaked Cup final.
Defending champions SHOAW were drawn in Group A where they opened their campaign with a 24-0 win over SM Sains Miri, which was followed by 47-0 hammering of SMK Tebedu, and 38-0 win over SMK Wira Penrissen in the final group match.
They marched into the Cup semi-finals with a 38-0 thrashing of MRSM Betong before sealing their final ticket by beating SMK Luar Bandar Miri 45-0.
“We are very happy to have retained the Cup this year. For the past two days it was a very good performance from the boys although we were building up from the first game until the final.
“In today’s quarterfinals I think we did very well to beat MRSM Betong and in the semi-finals SMK Luar Bandar Miri has improved since we met in the semi-finals last year when they lost by more than 80 points and this year they lost to us 45-0, they played much better rugby,” said Zulkaranainhisham.
He was contented with the final score although the score line could have been bigger if not for the poor weather and field condition.
“I must give full respect to my boys because they are very disciplined and were training on their own for the past one week when I was away in Kuala Lumpur attending my World Rugby Level III Coaching Course.
“I would like to say thank you very much to support from the school especially our principal Norlela Bujang, senior assistant (co-curriculum) Annur Kiprawi and team manager Mohamad Noor Bujang,” he added.
Zulkaranainhisham said the same team will be competing in the Super King George V Rugby 10s in Seremban next week and they will be joined by the school’s U14 team as part of the school’s rugby development plan.
This is a warm-up tournament for the U15 team before they compete in the MSSM-Milo Sulaiman Daud Cup at Sekolah Tunku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh, Perak from Nov 25-26.
Meanwhile, finishing in third place in the Cup category were Kolej Abdillah who edged SMK Luar Bandar Miri 17-12 in the play-off.
The Plate was won by SM Sains Miri after they blanked SMK Muara Tuang 22-0 while SMK Asajaya edged SMK Wira Penrissen 10-5 in the Bowl final.
Other teams in the championship were SM Sains Kuching, SMK Tarat, SMK Laila Taib, SMK Sacred Heart, SMK Sungai Maong and SM Sains Kuching Utara.