The national rugby under-20 team finished the group stage without a win to their name in the ARFU (Asian Rugby Football Union) Asia Junior 7's Under-20 Tournament in Johor yesterday.

Competing in Group B, Brunei fell to last year's runner-up Hong Kong 38-0 in their first match, 42-5 in the following game against China and showed their best performance of the day against Uzbekistan despite losing 14-5.

Under-20 captain Mohd Aliuddin Awang Timbang scored both tries for Brunei at the Dataran Bandaraya in Johor Baru.

"Despite our losses, the team still have high spirits and we showed a better performance than last year," said Mohd Aliudin.

Brunei put on a better performance this year compared to last year's 46-0 loss to Hong Kong, followed by a 17-5 defeat against Uzbekistan.

"We had an unlucky game against Uzbekistan because we were leading the first half and then they took the win during the second," said the captain.

"The main point of this trip is to improve our skills and experience.

"Our key goal is to try and get a win tomorrow in both games," added Mohd Aliudin.

Brunei and Uzbekistan will advance to the next round to fight for 5th-8th place today.

Uzbekistan finished third in the group with two losses and one win.

Hong Kong lead Group B with three wins and China are in second place on the table with two wins and one loss.

Group A's Malaysia have booked their ticket into the semi-finals after finishing all four games without a loss.

Malaysia still remains undefeated since winning the tournament last year.

They are scheduled to take on China in one of the two semi-finals.

The rest of Group A still have one more match to play to determine who will move into the next round.

Laos will play Chinese Taipei at 10am followed by Singapore taking on Indonesia at 10.20am today before the next round commences.

Chinese Taipei are standing on two wins and one loss, Laos with one win and two losses, Singapore with two losses and one win and Indonesia with three losses.

Courtesy from Brunei Times