OUR team to Sukma XII in Terengganu kicked off their campaign in Pool A with a 14-10 upset in the first game against defending champions Selangor.

On the second day (June 1), they played Pahang and won 12-7 to go top and advanced to the quarter-finals.

With the two wins against their Peninsula opponents, the players certainly gave the other teams something to worry about.

According to Zulkaranainhisham Sarbini (Zul), one of the coaches, we have, with these two victories, proven we are now on par with the Peninsula sides.

The other sides took notice of our display, and even applauded our players during and after the games … which is saying quite a lot.

In the quarter-finals, we met Kedah, and went down narrowly 7-5 and dropped to the Plate semi-finals where we played Perlis.

There, we went down to Perlis 7-15, to end our campaign.

Although we did not achieve what we set out to do — coming home with a medal — the players have proven that Sarawak can take on Peninsula sides and beat them.

In the words of Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU) president Bujang Safawi, the players should keep playing and not lose heart over the losses.

He knew the players gave their best, and lost to better sides.

I have yet to get the full rundown on the tournament from the triumvirate of Abang Azman, the team manager, Mohd Ismawi Noor (Mawi), the head coach, and Zul, the assistant coach and will give a full report in my next column.

I’m sure every rugby supporter and enthusiast in Sarawak is proud of the players for their valiant effort in Terengganu, especially when no one outside of rugby gave them a ghost of a chance to achieve any kind of result.

For everyone’s information, Terengganu took the gold, Negri Sembilan, the silver and Kedah, the bronze.

Thanks to Abang Azman, Mohd Ismawi, Zulkaranainhisham, and others who have assisted in one way or another to prepare the players — people like Mohd Riduan (Banjo), Patrick Siqueen and Abang Mohd Idris (Dris).

Thanks also to Mohd Safuan Salehuddin Abdullah, Mohd Zulfieqca Sapini, Wan Aminuddin Wan Mahmud, Mohd Izuan Jais, Saiful Manar Hamid, Najib Bakri, Muhammad Fairuz Anuwar, Mohd Nur Azizie Selai, Mohd Ihtisyamuddin Sanusi, Ismail Amran, Muhammad Farid Abdul Rahaman, Muhammad Hanafi Sanusi, Izzman Mohd Idrus and Ahmad Syahmin Azam.

These players have worn the State’s crest with pride and shown Sarawak rugby is up to par with the Peninsula’s.

Thanks should also go to the previous SRU president Basri Bolhasan for appointing Abang Azman, Mawi and Zul to take charge of the squad — they have done a fantastic job.

Not forgetting the previous team manager, Dominic Dohim, and his assistants Michael Ting and Senin for laying the groundwork in past Sukmas for this year’s performance.

I don’t know if anyone noticed but during the duration of Sukma, there were no write-ups on rugby in the print media, both local and national.

Other sports like lawn bowls, petanque and canoeing received coverage but not rugby.

The only time there was any news on the game in our local dailies was when Martin Yee reported on our upset win over Selangor on Sunday (June 1) and even then, the item was hidden between other reports and if you were not reading everything, you would have missed it.

Other sports got their day in the sun but not rugby and this sad and sorry state of affairs has been going on for as far as I remember.

Even our national side playing in Division II of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations in Bangkok did not get any space in the print media, and they are playing in the final today against Thailand for a spot in Division I next year which is also round one qualifying for the Rugby World Cup.

Why is rugby being treated like an unwanted child?

In earlier matches, Malaysia defeated Pakistan 30-5 while Thailand defeated India 30-22. The other match today will be between Pakistan and India.

Division I will be played in November in Taipei and have four nations — China, Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

The fourth-placed team will be demoted to Division II next year.

Next year’s Division I will also serve as round two of Asia qualifying for the World Cup.

Between the Divisions I and II rounds, there are four other regional tournaments for the other 12 Asian unions with Guam hosting Brunei and Philippines from June 28 to July 5 while in July, Jakarta will host another tournament.

In Qatar, Macau and Mongolia will play in another of these regional tournaments and then in September in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan will host Uzbekistan and Iran.

The IRB U-20 World Junior Championship is going on in Wales with 16 nations in four pools taking part.

On Friday, New Zealand thumped Tonga 48-9, and Argentina won 17-9 against Ireland in Pool A.

Pool B saw South Africa run riot over USA 108-8 and Samoa defeat Scotland 29-17 while Australia blitzed Canada 81-12 and England swamped Fiji 41-17 in Pool C. France overran Japan 53-17 and Wales won 29-10 against Italy in Pool D.

On Saturday, in Pool A Argentina defeated Tonga 30-10 while New Zealand crushed Ireland 65-10.

In Pool B, Samoa won 20-6 against USA and South Africa crushed Scotland 72-3.

In Pool C, England defeated Canada 60-18 and Australia won 53-17 against Fiji while in Pool D, France won 32-14 against Italy, and Wales defeated Japan 33-10.

In the IRB Pacific Nations Cup where six Pacific Oceanic nations — New Zealand Maoris, Australia A, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Japan — are playing in Laukota, Fiji defeated Samoa 34-17 while New Zealand Maoris won 20-9 against Tonga in Albany on Saturday.

On Sunday, Australia A won 42-21 against Japan in Fukuoka.

Astro’s channel 814 has been carrying a number of matches of the IRB junior championship, all the Pacific Nations Cup and the French Top 14 matches.

Incidentally the semi-finals for the latter will be next weekend and according to Astro’s programme guide, the matches will be carried over channel 814.

Over in the Peninsula, the Malaysian Rugby Union League Cup will start this weekend and run until next month together with the President’s Cup.

There will be a game today for everyone who turns up at the field with kick-off scheduled for 4.30pm.

Turnout last week was very good with everyone present having a full game, and discipline-wise, the players were sticking to playing and not telling the referee what to do.

Let’s hope the turnout this week will be as good or even better with the return of the Sukma squad.

See you all at the field.