MALAYSIA may not have achieved their target of winning the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Under-19 division two championships but that does not mean the team returned home empty-handed.
Twenty five boys from across the country, majority of which got their first cap for the national squad, showed great unity and spirit despite only winning one out of two matches.
On Wednesday, Malaysia were beaten 21-10 by Thailand in the semi-final and that dashed their hopes of playing in the final on Saturday.
The squad, who are sponsored by the Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YR1M) however, rose to the occasion and their never say die attitude bore fruit when they defeated host nation Philippines 28-17 in the playoff match at the Eagles Nest Stadium.
Singapore emerged overall champions and earned themselves promotion to division one next year following their 22-5 win over the Thais in the final.
The third place finish also retained Malaysia’s status in division two, which gives them a chance to win it next year and earn promotion to division one.
Team manager Tan Thiam Jin was satisfied with the performance of the squad and hopes to see an improvement in rugby development in the country.
“This tournament has been of great guidance for all of us officials, coaches and players.
“We are thankful to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) for believing in us and appointing Cobra Rugby Club to be in charge of the team, YR1M, Cobra Club members, teachers from various states and the families of the team because we could not have come this far without them.
“The response for this has been tremendous as there were 836 boys from all over the country who were vying to be in the top 25. We even penetrated the rural areas of Borneo to conduct our selection which gave some boys an amazing opportunity.
“Not only did they receive guidance from two New Zealand coaches (Brian Ronald Dagg and Jeffery David Matheson), the boys were also given motivational and medical talks by Datuk Dr Lawrence Chan and Dr Azril Syazwan Mohd Ali,” Thiam Jin said yesterday.
Thiam Jin, who is also the vice president of Cobra Club, added that the team got together in November for five weeks of centralised training, and in that time also conducted coaching attachment programmes for club coaches and teachers from the state. By Fabian Peter