Homesters gunning for NJ Ryan trophy after seven-year wait
KUALA KANGSAR (28th February): The tenth edition of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) 7s got off to a flying start when homesters, MCKK came back from a try down to win 31-12 over Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan ABI from Perlis.
Trailing at the break, MCKK turned on the style in the second half to score four tries for an emphatic win in front of an expectant home crowd.
Overall, it was an exciting opening day for the MCKK 7’s, the nation’s leading schools rugby sevens championship, which was hit by the unfortunate withdrawal of three foreign teams from Indonesia, Brunei and Thailand due to the Covid-19 virus.
Undaunted by the unexpected twist of events, tournament director, Amrul Hazarin Hamidon has a contingency plan up in place to ensure the success of the championship.
“This year we were planning for 6 foreign teams to join our tournament and we managed to confirm three entries.
“Unfortunately, nearer to the to the tournament, all of the foreign teams had to withdraw due to the coronavirus. Due to this unexpected turn of events, we still manage to complete the 24 team line up by replacing them with local teams,” he added.
Nevertheless, Amrul is still pleased that one of his innovations to this year’s championship came through – the introduction of the LED scoreboard.
“I would like to express my gratitude to one of the sponsors who have provided us with an electronic scoreboard for this year’s tournament.
“We hope that this year’s tournament will be a success and judging on the crowd on day 1 (Friday), we are expecting more to show up during the weekend,” he added.
MCKK is gunning for their first NJ Ryan trophy since 2013 and nearly came close in last year’s final after a heartbreaking 10-24 defeat to SEMASHUR, 10-24 in the final.
RESULTS DAY 1
GROUP A
SMK (A) SHEIKH HAJI OTHMAN ABDUL WAHAB 14 – 26 KOLEJ TENTERA DIRAJA (RMC)
GROUP B
SEKOLAH MENENGAH SAINS TUN JAAFAR 14 – 12 KOLEJ SULTAN ABDUL HAMID
GROUP C
MCKK 31- 12 SMK ABI
GROUP D
SEKOLAH SULTAN ALAM SHAH 5 – 12 SEKOLAH DATO’ ABDUL RAZAK
GROUP E
SMK TUN ABDUL RAZAK 22 – 12 SMK SULTAN YAHYA PETRA 1
GROUP F
VICTORIA INSTITUTION 5 – 17 SMK KING EDWARD VII
