KUALA LUMPUR: The national juniors' hopes of making a swift
return to the top tier were dashed following a a defeat by UAE in the
semi-finals of the Asia Rugby Under-19 Championships (ARC) in the Philippines
today.
Malaysia were no match for the
heavyset UAE, going down tamely 34-13 at the International School Manila field.
They will now face Philippines,
who lost 26-6 to favourites South Korea in their semi-final, in the third-place
playoff on Saturday.
National team manager Azlan
Ishak admitted that it was not their day.
"UAE were just the better
team today, they have better sizing than us and were also faster than us,"
said Azlan.
“We just made a few simple
mistakes which allowed UAE to score their tries against us.”
Malaysia were relegated from
the championship division (top tier) last season.
The
championship division, which only features two teams this year, saw favourites
Hong Kong winning their first leg encounter against Sri Lanka 37-8 at the
Havelocks in Colombo. The return leg will be held at the Hong Kong Football
Club on Saturday
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