KUALA LUMPUR: It’s strange, don’t you think, that anyone would want to field an experimental side at a higher-level tournament and name a stronger squad for one less competitive?
But this was apparently the thinking behind the decision of the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) when sending a team to the first of three legs of the Asian 7s Series in Hong Kong last weekend, over the team that won the Sea Games 7s gold for the first time about 10 days before that.
In the days leading to the Asian tournament, one commentator on Facebook mentioned “going to the higher level.” You would immediately think there was hope.
The team sheets for the games and the Hong Kong leg showed that only one player from the former was in the squad for the latter.
A report in The New Straits Times print edition quoted Malaysian 7s coach Saiful Hafifi as saying, by way of a defence it would seem, that the Asian tournament could not be compared to the games because for the former, teams could include foreigners.
In this case, Saiful should know that any foreigner allowed to represent his country of residence must still qualify as per the conditions of World Rugby. Those from the Philippines qualify mainly through being naturalised by having one Filipino as a parent. Every foreigner can only play through residential qualification.
There is thus nothing in the rules that prevents Malaysia from including qualified foreigners, the way the MRU does in the 15s format by at times having three or four Fijians on the field at any one time, plus a couple more on the bench.
The poor results in Hong Kong are further proof of a lack of planning and which route to the future Malaysian rugby should take.
If the 7s format is where it thinks the country has better prospects, then domestic tournaments must reflect a programme that fits this thinking. By extension, players selected for the Asian Series, which has three legs this year for the top tier, must also gear themselves towards this objective.
Many countries not in the top 20 in the world rankings in the 15s are already putting in more money and organising more programmes to strengthen their 7s teams because it is now an Olympic sport.
The next leg of the Asian Series will be held the third weekend of this month in South Korea, followed by the final leg in Sri Lanka in mid-October. Let’s see how the MRU opts to choose the players.
Officials with the national union must also be mindful of the Commonwealth Games in Australia in April, if they wish to compete again, although results from the last games in Glasgow showed how far behind we were to the stronger teams.
First, we lost all three matches in the pool with Samoa, Wales and Papua New Guinea, leaking 142 points against 7, which led us to the third-tier Bowl section where we lost 35-0 to Uganda, which took us to the last-tier Shield section. Even there we found it tough, losing 15-10 to Trinidad & Tobago.
Our women’s 7s team did not take part in the Asian tournament last year, but was there in this year’s lower tier, qualifying leg in Laos in February. Other than South Korea, which took first place and qualified for the main two-leg series later this month and next month, the other teams were Laos, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines, none of which would send shivers to other teams in Asia.
True, Malaysia came third, but only one team would go to the main series.
At the higher international level, the All Blacks host the Argentine Pumas in New Plymouth in the third round of the Rugby Championship.
While respectful of the Pumas, the All Blacks selectors are expected to reshuffle their matchday 23 with a view to giving more game time to the less-experienced players.
This match is followed by the one between the Wallabies and the Springboks in Perth of all places.
Quite ironic because the Western Australian city is still abuzz with the Supreme Court decision agreeing with the decision of the Australian Rugby Union to drop the Western Force from next year’s Super Rugby.
Despite the court’s ruling, the issue is not likely to end yet, with RugbyWA either appealing to another court or the state union going ahead to organise a rebel competition.