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NEWS & EVENTS
Brunei play China at Johor rugby tourney
Saturday, September 14, 2013

National rugby coach Ben
Bourne (C) in action during
a rugby match at the UBD
Field C recently. Bourne
recently added three new
players to the national team
that will play in the ARFU
Asia Junior 7's Under-20
Tournament in Johor today.
Picture: BT/Syarif Rasani

The national rugby under-20 team are booked for three matches in the ARFU (Asian Rugby Football Union) Asia Junior 7's Under-20 Tournament in Johor today.

They are scheduled to take on Hong Kong, last year's runner up, for their first game at 9.40am. Brunei will have no time to rest as they will then take on China who came in third place in the previous edition at 12.20pm followed by their Group B final match against Uzbekistan at 2.40pm.

The Under-20 squad faced both Hong Kong (46-0) and Uzbekistan (17-5) in their group games last year and lost.

Muhammad Azizan Hj Zainal Ariffin and Mohd Aliuddin Awang Timbang are the two team captains that are appointed to lead the squad at the Dataran Bandaraya in Johor Bahru.

"We're going to play as a team and never give up, sit down or grieve," said Aliuddin.

"This is a chance for us to gain more experience and it will definitely be a challenging tournament.

"We're fully prepared for this tour.

"Hong Kong are one of the best teams that play rugby in Asia, and the same goes with China. Win or lose it doesn't matter, as long as we go into it 100 per cent on the field.

"So all we can really do is play hard and smart and InsyaAllah we will make Brunei proud," the captain said.

National rugby coach Ben Bourne recently had to add three new players to the team as three of his previous players dropped out due to school commitments.

"I can see the three new players are ready for this tour after seeing how they did during our training sessions," added Aliuddin.

Brunei automatically get the chance to fight for 5th-8th place on Sunday if their group games don't go according to plan as there are only four teams in their group.

Group A comprises five teams which are Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Indonesia and Laos.

Malaysia came out on top undefeated after edging Hong Kong 26-22 during the final in last year's edition.

Courtesy from Brunei Times