Rugby: Knights eye Labuan final
Jason Thomas
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Saturday, August 9, 2008
IT MIGHT be their first time competing in an international tournament, but the Knights Rugby Union Football Club are confident of reaching the final of the Labuan Rugby Invitational Tournament which starts today. The national champions at the Under-16 and Under-18 level, the Knights won their first trophy at the senior level in June when representing the Temburong district, beat the Royal Brunei Police Sports Council to lift the Pesta Sukan Kebangsaan (PSK) crown.
"This is the first tournament that the Knights will be competing in outside the country and our target is to make it to the final," said the club's president Hj Abu Bakar Abdullah during a telephone interview yesterday. "We have been preparing daily for the competition, even before PSK started in fact," he added.
Eight Malaysian teams are expected to compete in the tournament which is held for the first time, with the national Under-23 team coached by national coach Ben Bourne the other local team set to compete in Labuan. Both teams are set to depart from the Serasa ferry terminal in Muara today at 3pm.
According to the president, the tournament is being organised by the Labuan Sports School as part of their preparation for the 2010 Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) to be held in Melaka. The Sports School team was the same one which competed in the latest edition of Sukma held in Terengganu in June, and Hj Abu Bakar knows that the Knights will be up against some top-notch opposition. "There are teams from West Malaysia competing in Labuan as well so we know we will have our work cut out for us, but I am confident we can reach our target," he said.
The Brunei Rugby Football Union National Inter-club Rugby Tournament which concluded in May marked the debut season for the Knights.
Plans have been drawn up for the Knights to go on a tour around Borneo at the end of the year which will conclude with games against teams from Jakarta, but Hj Abu Bakar said that nothing is confirmed yet.
The Brunei Times
