The Brunei national rugby team
posing for a photo prior to
departing the Sultanate for
Cambodia to compete in the
Asian 5 Nations Division 5
tournament today. Picture:
BT/ Syarif Rasani
The Brunei national rugby squad will face Cambodia in the Asian 5 Nations Division 5 tournament today.
Brunei will have to play the hosts twice within a span of three days as they are the only two teams sitting in division five.
Both encounters will be played at the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Stadium.
The squad have managed to secure more training time leading up to the their two matches compared to their previous trip.
They only had two weeks of training but managed to topple over Cambodia after falling behind 15-0 at half time to fight back to 19-15 win last year.
They will be more prepared this year having trained for the whole of last month
Within the last four weeks under national rugby coach Ben Bourne, they have shown their progression through a series of three test matches against the Barbarians.
Their first clash was a disappointing one for the national squad where they lost 38-29.
They managed to bounce back and improve by winning their second game 20-10 followed by an impressive 59-33 win.
National vice-captain Muhd Ali Nurul Saffuan Muhd Ali told The Brunei Times before departing Brunei, "We have a good chance to win this year because we have all the best players from each of the clubs that joined the Brunei Rugby Football Union Premiership."
"Compared to last year, we've had a lot more time to train on our fitness but mostly on our skills.
"The league was actually part of our training and game time," he said.
"For the backs we only have two new players but we had our time to bond during the training camp and we all get along with each other really well," he added.
"A one-day rest before our second game should be alright because we got the conditioning during our training.
"This is the first time it's been like this but I believe everyone will try their best for the Brunei rugby team," added the vice-captain.
Brunei will play their second match against Cambodia on Sunday.
Their last A5N trip the national squad also faced Laos but fell to a heavy 70-7 defeat.
Laos also took their game against Cambodia 58-7 to get promoted to Division four.
