Rugby Rising in Laos

Lao National Women's 15s Team on home soil at the 2011 Asian Women's 15s, Vientiane

12 June 2012
Wang Shao Ing

Thursday will mark a milestone for Lao women’s rugby as the Lao National Women’s 15s Team prepares for their first international test.

As with many women’s teams in Asia, women’s rugby in Laos developed from the 7s game and it was at the 26th SEA Games in Korat 2007 that the first women’s team from Lao PDR made their debut. Unlike Cambodia which has not been active on the international women's scene since, Lao PDR has been represented at the the Asian Women's Sevens in 2010 and 2011 in Guangzhou, China and Pune, India respectively.


Laos now boasts about 100 players in local schools and 300 girls who participate in grassroots outreach programs which are conducted by the Lao Rugby Federation. Whilst there are plenty more to reach in the country of 6.4 million, with plans for growing the game through teams in the Lao Army, Institute for Physical Education, National University and the Lao Police in the pipeline, the women’s game looks to be making steady strides within the landlocked state.

Vice Captain, Mousky Vongsouvath,
a Lao rugby stalwart 

The entry of the Laos in the Asian Women’s 15s 2012 Div II in Manila is a testament to both the Lao Rugby Federation’s and the Asian Rugby Football Union’s initiatives to grow the 15s game in Asia. Although last year’s Asian Women's 15s Division II Tournament in Vientiane 2011 was played by Under 20 rules and each game was ten minutes shy of a full eighty-minute game which fall short of full tests, that experience will have given the Lao National Women’s Team a good idea of what to expect this weekend.

With the Lao Rugby Federation’s efforts in previous years in the areas of Tha Ngon and Veunkham bearing fruit (almost half the team are from these areas just outside Vientiane), Laos rugby supporters may take pride in the organic growth of these national team players.

Laos will no doubt be looking to better their 2011 performance where they put up a gutsy display against the Philippines before an ecstatic home crowd in Vientiane, only to concede third place in the closing minutes of the game.

The Asian Women's 15s 2012 Div II tournament will kickoff with Laos against Singapore on 14 July 2012, Thursday at 1330h.

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ARFU:  Asian Women's 15s 2011