By Jason ThomasThe Brunei Times
Sunday, August 9, 2009
THE Knights Rugby Football Club beat the Belait Pythons 10-7 in the last game of the Brunei Rugby Football Union (BRFU) Rugby League yesterday, but failed to win the league by an agonising one point.Titleholders Pythons who have now won their third straight league title were undefeated heading into yesterday's clash at the Jerudong International School field, which was the first time either side have met in the league this year.
The Knights had only lost once, but that too was a walkover defeat they handed to the Pythons on May 16 when they were unable to contest their match at the Lorong 5 field in Panaga.
Yesterday's win for the Knights earned them the same win-lose record as the Pythons, but the latter took the league crown by virtue of losing yesterday's game by less than seven points.
BRFU awards one point for every loss less than seven and four points instead of three for every game in which the winning team score four tries or more.
Having let in a miserly five points all season, the Knights were always going to rely on their good defence to win the game and that was just what they did.
Their captain Dinie Hj Abu Bakar got on the scoresheet after hardly five minutes when he found space on the right and scored a try to give the Knights a 5-0 lead.
Hans Hickey created the team's next try, shrugging off a couple of Pythons' players to offload the ball to the team's half-back on the right a few minutes before the break.
Tensions flared in the second half as the defending champions struggled to break down their opponents' tenacious defence, crossing the try-line three times but were denied each time.
Their hard work was rewarded in the final few minutes when Habib Waliyuddin scored under the posts, with Petrus Tuan converting.
"It was a messy game in my opinion and the only thing we were good at was the line-outs," said the Knights' coach Ben Bourne.
"The Knights were the better team today (Saturday) and their defence really stood still," said the Pythons' coordinator Timothy Lian.
"It was a good game and we are glad to have played them as it has been a while since we last met each other," he added.
He will not have to wait too long for their next encounter since the two teams will face each other in the 2009 Darussalam Cup Championship next Saturday, a game which pits the first- and second-placed teams in the league against each other.
The Bandar Blacks and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (ABDB) face each other on the same day in the battle for bronze.
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