NEXT weekend will be the annual Kuching Rugby Football Club (KRFC) Schools Sevens, and president Dick Bentham is expecting at least 16 schools statewide to gather in Kuching to vie for honours.

This tournament is in conjunction with KRFC’s annual Sevens and the Song Thian Cheok Memorial Sevens for the schools.

It was introduced a few years ago to promote the game in schools and originally organised to run on consecutive weekends with the Song Thian Cheok Memorial but due to the school calendar and clash of dates with other tournaments organised by Education Department, the tournament has become separate.

It would be more interesting to have the school tournament in tandem with the club tournament but due to the lack of space or playing field and fixture congestions with 16 teams each for the schools and clubs, it is, thus, more viable to have separate dates for the two tournaments. Logistically, it is also easier to manage.

Invitations for the tournament have been sent out to all the schools, and KRFC should have a clear idea of the number taking part by the time this article goes to press.

If there are any schools out there that want to play but have not received the invitation, please contact Dick (012-8904330) or vice president Yusop (019-8461730).

The tournament has always received good response but mostly from schools in Kuching and Samarahan due to the financial, time and travel constraints encountered by schools outside these two divisions.

A few schools from the other divisions had made the effort to come to Kuching for past tournaments, notably SMK Kapit, and SMK Meradong last year.

As mentioned, Dick is expecting an ideal number of 16 schools or teams. More will be welcomed although the maximum is 24. The tournament will played over the weekend, and 16 teams is ideal logistically — four pools of four sides each to play the group matches on the first day of the tournament on Saturday, and the knockout stage on Sunday.

If there are 24 sides, then there will be eight pools of four with the tournament starting on Friday to complete the matches in time.

The draw will be done next week and I will keep everyone posted in my column next week.

Expect the usual cast in the fray for honours with defending champions SMK Agama Sheikh Haji Othman Abdul Wahab leading the pack. Other Kuching Division schools to be in the thick of action are Kolej DPAH Abdillah, Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg, SM Teknik Matang, SM Teknik Sejingkat, SMA Matang, SMB St Joseph, SMB St Thomas, SM Sains Batu Kawa, SMK Penrissen, and hopefully SM Teknik Kuching.

From Samarahan Division are SMK Penrissen Wira, SMK Tebakang, SMK Asajaya, SMK Ta’ee, and SMK Sungai Tapang.

Let’s hope that schools from the other divisions will be in Kuching to vie for honours like SMB Sacred Heart from Sibu, SM Teknik Betong, SMK Kapit and SM Teknik Miri.

Noel Pang of Lodge School has been training with his schoolmates in preparation for the tournament, so will we get to see them making their debut?

My sincere apologies to Abang Fatihi from Sibu Division whose name was inadvertently left out of the list of coaches for the Sukma squad to Kuala Terengganu in my column a few weeks ago. This happened because when I received the list of players and officials from Idris, Fatihi’s name was not in the list.

In the HSBC Asian 5 Nations in Division II, Guam will play Brunei today, and on Wednesday Brunei will face the Philippines.

In the final of the IRB Under-20 World Junior Championships in Wales last Sunday between New Zealand and England, the Kiwis outclassed England 38-3 to lift the crown while in the third-fourth play-off, South Africa beat Wales 43-18.

In the IRB Pacific Nations Cup, New Zealand Maoris defeated Samoa 17-6 on Saturday while Australia A thumped Tonga 90-7 and Japan lost 12-24 to Fiji on Sunday.

Today, New Zealand Maoris will face Japan and Tonga will face Samoa. Australia A will face Fiji tomorrow.

Last week, England went down to New Zealand 12-44 in their second test while South Africa blanked Italy 26-0.

Today’s tests will see Argentina playing Italy and Australia hosting France.

In last weekend’s game, Barbarians beat KRFC. Match official was Ismawi (Mawi).

There will be a game today. See you all at the field.