Malaysia to strive for 2017 World Youth Rugby tournament spot

Malaysia wants to fight for the one Asian slot remaining for the 2017 World Youth Rugby Tournament by emerging champion in the 2015 Asia Rugby Under-19 Championships (Division 1) from Dec 1-6 at Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam.

With the withdrawal of the Philippines and South Korea, Thailand is the only hurdle for Malaysia to overcome in order to emerge as Division 1 champion and gain promotion to Tier 1 (Top Division) in 2016.

However, to reach the World Youth Tournament would not be an easy task since only the champion of the Top Division among the Asia's top five teams would get the remaining one berth.

Malaysia Rugby Union (MRU) general manager, Mohd Mazuri Sallehudin is confident that the Malaysian boys can overcome Thailand with home ground advantage.

"We and Thailand have almost the same capabilities in strength and weakness but we hope to overcome them. After that, we need to fight hard against Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Chinese Taipei to secure a spot in the World Youth Tournament.

"South Korea withdrew from the tournament due to its internal crisis in the union and the Philippines' withdrawal was because of financial problems. So we will go head to head with Thailand to determine who will move to the Top Division," he told reporters at the Cobra Rugby Club here, today.

Mohd Mazuri also announced Tan Thiam Jin as the team manager, Nik Safuan Ismade Nik Man as head coach, Mohammad Faiz Samsukhidir as assistant coach and Cobra Rugby Club as the National U-18 and U-19 Project Management Team.

Commenting on the team selection process, Cobra Rugby Club President, Col. Tommy Pereira said 25 players would be selected to represent the country after the two phases of selection conducted by the club together with MRU and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia.

"From 81 players identified through various tournaments in the country, 42 will attend the first phase at the Cobra Club from Sept 18-22 to narrow it down to 25 players.

"On Nov 12, these 25 players would play against a team of 25 players from Sekolah Sukan Tunku Mahkota Ismail (SSTMI) Johor in a friendly match," he said.