By Jason ThomasSaturday, August 15, 2009
THE Knights Rugby Football Club will be looking to win their fourth trophy when they face the Belait Pythons in today's Darussalam Cup Championship at the Jerudong International School field at 5pm.
Despite losing to the Knights 10-7 in last week's Brunei Rugby Football Union (BRFU) Rugby League match at the same venue, the Pythons still collected their third straight league title.
It was the first time either team had met in the league, and though the victory for the Knights earned them the same win-lose record as the Pythons, the Belait-based team took the league crown by virtue of losing the 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.
Representing Temburong, the Knights captured the Pesta Sukan Kebangsaan (PSK) title last year to add to their Under-16 and Under-18 crowns at the national level.
They also won the Under-17 trophy in 2007, and their coach is hoping the team will be adding the Darussalam Cup to their trophy cabinet today.
"Basically we are going with the same game plan as last week," said Ben Bourne, whose side's defence won them the match. "Last week our line-outs were good but they should have been better, our scrums were weaker than normal and our handling out wide was not so good so we are going to work on those areas."
Starting last week's match with 14 players, the team did not have the chance to warm up because most of their players who are students could not make it to the pitch in time because of their classes.
"I hope if we can get there early tomorrow (Saturday) we can warm up properly and start on a good note," said Bourne when contacted yesterday.
Frustrated by their opponents' steadfast defence, the Pythons only found a gap in the Knights' back line in the final few minutes when Habib Waliyuddin scored under the posts with Petrus Tuan converting.
The full-back for both the national team and the Pythons, Tuan said the team had learnt from last week's loss.
"Last week's defeat was a good lesson for us, and yes, revenge is definitely on our minds," said Tuan.
"We are more confident now and we will try to be more organised on the offence this time ... We will attack them more. Both the tries they scored last week were because of bad defending, so that is something we can improve on," he said.
Last year's Darussalam Cup final was the talk of the town, with the Bandar Blacks beating the Pythons in a match that had to be decided by a drop-kick contest.
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