National 15s rugby coach Rodney So'oialo, a former All Blacks captain, shares his views with Timesporton ways to improve the Malaysian team and the game in the country.
QUESTION: Malaysia have made strides in the game and, for the first time, reached the top-tier of the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) in 2018.
But we have hit a plateau since then. What do we need to do to catch up with teams like South Korea and Hong Kong?
ANSWER: There are a lot of restrictions here, and one of those is limited funding. Korea and Hong Kong are in the professional game, so they have adequate funding in their system. They get quality matches to prepare (their national squad). When you compare that to Malaysia, our players are either full-time workers or students. That is why I had commented that it is tough for the Malaysian boys (to compete against them).
We must prepare better and play against better opposition to bridge that gap. If you want to be competitive, you have to be realistic. We cannot prepare by only playing against (local) club teams here (like Malaysia did before the ARC this year). Playing against overseas teams should be an option in the future.
Q: We were clearly lacking in physical strength and fitness compared to Korea (Malaysia lost 55-10) during this year's ARC.
In terms of technical ability, how far off are we from them?
A: Korea prepared better than we did. End of the day, it all boils down to execution. We did not execute as well as Korea did.
We gave away four tries due to handling errors or we not securing the ball well enough. Having high-quality preparation games would have allowed us to understand how to deal with difficult situations. However, the boys learned a lot from the match against Korea.
Considering the limitations and how hard the boys had worked, I was proud of the team's performance.
Q: Malaysia Rugby (MR) honorary secretary Amrul Hazarin Hamidon has praised you for being brave enough to select a large number of youngsters for the ARC this year.
Is this something you plan on continuing in the future?
A: We have to be honest with ourselves and consider the growth aspect as we look forward.
That would mean choosing younger players to give them the experience they need to develop themselves into better players.
We have to look at building the Under-19 programmes, so they are able to understand the fundamental skills early on rather than waiting until they are 25 or 26.
It would be even better to start before the Under-18 level. This way, they can come through (the ranks) together and have that camaraderie.
Q: You have mentioned before that Malaysian players need to increase their squatting ability and push at least one-and-a-half times their body weight.
How long will it take them to achieve that level through a comprehensive programme?
A: It would be pretty fast. I would look at a three-month programme.
It would be easy for these guys (to gain muscle) because they have not done such a programme before.
I went through a similar programme when I was with the All Blacks. I had a three-month period of building muscles. I had to gain weight, not slow-fat, but explosive, big-power weight.
I am not only saying this (emphasising on strength) to be more competitive but also from a safety perspective. It is important to keep yourself safe from any injuries. (Imbalance between teams can happen), and we saw that with the level of scrums that Korea had compared to ours. We don't get that much pressure (in scrums) here (when playing against local teams).
To be more competitive, someone who weighs 100kg, for example, should be able to squat close to 200kg.
Q: What other areas do we have to look at to improve strength and fitness?
A: Getting the boys into slightly better eating habit is important. If you want your body to perform well, you have to look after it. That also comes down to food.
In Malaysian culture, people tend to eat a little later than usual. I am not asking you to stop what you are doing because that is your culture, but some adjustments to the portions would be beneficial.
I've mentioned to my boys instead of having rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, maybe have it for just breakfast and dinner and replace it with lots of vegetables. That way, you are only missing one portion of rice.
If you are eating a lot, your body is going to store it (as fat). The body only uses what it needs, and the rest will go to your hips and belly.
Having enough sleep also allows your body to recover.
Q: What do you think of our domestic leagues?
A: I have not had the chance to see any of the (senior) local leagues yet (due to Covid-19). But one of the issues we have here is at the younger level. If I am not mistaken, they only have one week of national-level competition (MSSM) each year.
To have only one week of competition out of 52 weeks in a year is not enough.
There needs to be some sort of programme to allow these kids to enjoy the game of rugby. Rugby is a character-building sport, and it helps you grow.
In many countries, the girls' game is also developing. That comes down to the hard work these countries have done (in development).
Allowing the junior programme to have a better setup with more competitive games would be better for Malaysia.