Knights Rugby Football Club tackle a Bandar Blacks player (with the ball) during the Brunei Rugby Football Union Premiership at Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 2013. BT/Md Asdeny Yakub
The Knights Rugby Football Club are looking at this season's Brunei Rugby Football Union (BRFU) Premiership as a chance to expose players from their junior squad to more playing time.
Their main aim for the tournament is to see more juniors join the league, having eight of their own ready to take part so far.
Knights forward and senior player, Abdul Azim Hj Abu Bakar told The Brunei Times, "The team were bringing to the tournament is basically the same as last years with a few additions from our junior team."
"We're bringing in eight juniors so that they will be able to gain the experience from playing at a senior level.
"Day by day we feel that rugby players in Brunei are slowly leaving the game.
"A lot of the youngsters are choosing to take part in other sports as there is a range to choose from," said Abdul Azim.
The league is still yet to confirm when it will kick off but are expecting to start fielding the games late February or early March.
"We still haven't started with our training yet as the tournament date hasn't been set yet," said Abdul Azim.
"All the teams are posed as a threat to us because I've heard that they've all started training since early January.
"Our other aim for the tournament is to finish the league with the Dr Hj Kamaruddin Cup in our hands," added Abdul Azim.
The Knights made a strong comeback to the BRFU Premiership last year after taking two years off due to the majority of their players starting work and going overseas to further their studies.
They sat at the top of the table for the majority of the league leading up to the third last match of the competition in April.
The game saw the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Sharks pick up a bonus point after keeping their loss within seven when they fell 17-15 to the Bandar Blacks, which put them on top of the table with 22 points to overtake the Knights by one point.
The Knights had the chance to win the league in the second last game of the season but fell 41-10 after heading to the Miri Rhinos home ground, which led to the Rhinos being crowned the tournament champions while the Knights ended in third.
Their unfortunate run didn't stop there as the Darussalam Cup was then up for grabs for the top four teams of the league.
The Knights were knocked out 23-8 by the UBD Sharks, who then went on defeat the Royal Brunei Police Force Sports Council (MS PDB) 23-5 in the final to claim their first major piece of silverware in May.
Prior to their two year spell, the Knights lifted both the Dr Hj Kamaruddin Cup and Darussalam Cup in 2010 after sweeping through their competitors to go undefeated. The Knights also took part in the end of year inaugural Brunei Rugby Sevens Series in November and December.
They finished in third with 18 points behind the Belait Pythons who sat on 24 points, followed by the Brunei Leopards Rugby Development Squad topping the table with 26 points.
