15 April 2010by Wang Shao Ing
The Malaysian national women’s team is set to meet Singapore A in the curtain raiser to the HSBC Asian 5 Nations playoffs this Saturday.
The two sides first met in September 2009 before the Malaysian Rugby Union sanctioned their first national women’s 15s team. Then, playing as the Malaysian Barbarians, the Malaysians lost narrowly to Singapore A in the 10-7 battle at the grounds of the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.
A month later, Malaysian women’s rugby marked another milestone in the development with their first international test against the Singapore National Women Team. A less experienced side, Malaysia suffered a 63-0 drubbing to Singapore at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium.
Since then Malaysian Head Coach Raimi Yusof says the team has improved greatly as the players now have a better understanding of the game. Like Singapore however, their preparations have been brief as both sides have just come out of the 7s season which culminated in the Hong Kong 7s just 3 weeks ago. Despite this and some injuries to their regular players Yusof is confident that Saturday’s draw will be anything but dull.
“We did not have a long period to prepare ourselves but our main focus was to prepare the team to do well in the forwards as we believe that would be our strength. It’s going to be an interesting game to see, as we have developed after a year and hope to give Singapore a run for their money.”
“We would like to be competitive against Singapore and play a structured game. As a team that is still in the infant age, our focus is to create a strong structure and interest within the team.”
As for the atmosphere, team captain Lim Chin Wei is all pumped up as they take the field before the Malaysian men’s team who are in the third and fourth playoff against Chinese Taipei.
“It is a privilege and an honor. That’s all I can say. We hope to win of course! And have a great outing and let’s see what happens! We will be sure give our all this weekend. It will be a boost to some of our new players and get them ready for the upcoming Singapore Rugby 15s league!”
Singapore A v Malaysia kicks-off at 3pm at Yio Chu Kang
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