An exciting day of rugby at Curtin Malaysia

Miri – 12 May 2017 – The recent Hornbill 10’s Rugby Tournament hosted by Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) in conjunction with the Miri May Festival saw exciting play by 300 players from 20 teams vying for honours in four categories – U15, U18, U19 and Women’s U18.

Piranhas Lutong Rugby Club clinched the U19 title, beating Kolej Vokasional Miri 33-0 in the final. The Piranhas’ Ronaldo Rangiie was named the best player in this category that also saw Baram Rhinos Rugby Club overcoming IKBN 17-0 to finish third.

SM Sains A edged SMK Lutong A 7-5 to walk away with the U18 champions’ trophy while SMK Lutong B beat SMK Merbau 7-0 for third placing.

In the U15 competition, SM Sains A defeated SM Sains B 20-0 to emerge the champions while SMK Luar Bandar A triumphed 15-0 over SMK Luar Bandar B in the third/fourth placing play-off.

Meanwhile, Letto Rhinos overcame SMK Lutong 5-0 to lift the Women’s title and in third and fourth spots were SMK Merbau and SMK Dato Permaisuri.

Other best players were Simon Bilong of SM Sains Miri in the U15 category, Nicolnielson Chan Fock Kwong of SMK Lutong in the U18 and Anatshia Ja’sang also of SMK Lutong in the Women’s category.

The tournament was organised by the Miri Division Rugby Association (MDRA), which is an affiliate of the Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU), who fully support the aims of providing a platform for young rugby players to display their skills, promoting rugby in more schools not only within the Miri Division but also state-wide, with the added objective of identifying the best players to represent Miri at state-level competitions.

MDRA coach Landale Cranfield said it was an intensive day of competition with almost non-stop games from about 7.40 am to 5.30 pm.

He thanked the university management on behalf of the players, coaches, teachers, parents and organisers for its contribution to the highly successful event, including use of its rugby pitch, provision of canopies for the spectators and transport for the players to and from the university campus. He also thanked the university staff and students for their support during the event.

Curtin Malaysia Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive Professor Jim Mienczakowski said the university has always been very supportive of rugby in Miri and, in addition to having a lively rugby scene involving students, staff and visiting players at its campus, has hosted a number of local tournaments through the years.

“We are especially keen to be involved in the development of the sport in local schools, and in the development of new players to represent Miri. In fact, we are keen to become a centre for rugby and other sports in this region,” he remarked.

Professor Mienczakowski said that Curtin Malaysia’s interest in sports includes an ongoing partnership with the National Sports Institute of Malaysia to conduct collaborative research in sports science and engineering to improve the performance of Malaysian sports teams.

The sports science and engineering research team at Curtin Malaysia, established in 2015, also works closely with their counterparts at the School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science at Curtin University in Perth as part of a research collaboration between researchers at the Australian and Malaysian campuses.

Curtin’s School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science has an excellent track record of sports-related research, including injury management, prevention, orthopaedic techniques and rehabilitation, and performance optimisation. It has strong links with Hockey Australia and the Fremantle Football Club in Western Australia, in addition to carrying out projects in running, cycling, triathlon, swimming, surfing, basketball, volleyball and rugby.

Professor Mienczakowski added that Curtin Malaysia also has student clubs promoting various sports including badminton, basketball, bowling, cricket, diving, dodgeball, football, futsal, netball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, ultimate Frisbee and wushu, in addition to facilities for football, rugby, futsal, tennis, cricket, basketball, netball, badminton and table tennis, and a well-equipped fitness centre.

The women’s players at the end of the Hornbill 10’s tournament.