Rugby has always been my passion since I was in secondary school. I could still vividly remember the first time I step foot on the pitch for training. It was extremely horrendous for me at that time. Just imagine that you need to run at least ten laps around the field and then 20 sets of shuttle run everyday. And that's not all - there was also the exercises to increase our strength which include weight-lifting and carrying one of your teammates on your shoulder. I always feel exhausted during training and there have been once reached to a certain point which I nearly gave up rugby. But, my strong mental and determination prevented me from doing that. I know that all of this training would benefit me in the future by giving me the fitness and strength to play. As what my former rugby coach said - "There are 3 things that are important in rugby - fitness, strength and tactical". Even if one of these aspects is missing, the team will not win in a rugby match. My school rugby team was absolutely amazing. We won not only tournaments at the state level, but also in national level. SBP 10's and Cobra 10's are just the few highlights during that time. We were victorious and seem unstoppable. I really missed those wonderful times. Full of joy, pride and happiness in the air. This tradition of winning has been continued even when I left and entered KMB. My rugby team back in college was also a great one. Even though we had to train and practice by ourselves, we managed to played well and won the SUKOMA Rugby Tournament two years in a row!!
Till now, my passion for rugby haven't fade even the slightest. However, playing rugby in the UK is really different compared to back in Malaysia. Well, it's not the way of playing that is different, it's just the environment and temperature here that makes it different. My hands felt numb and I my lungs felt really cold because I had to breath in cold air.
My first rugby game in UK was against the Chinese Society Rugby Team. We played 7-a-side and most of my team mates are the ones from that I played with since in college. As some of you guys might know, to play 7's you need a high level of stamina, which my team and I lack. So, in the end we lost but not much. One thing that I like was that our team pattern of play was still intact. It's just that we were not fit enough to chase our opponent which made us lose.
Malaysian Barbarians vs MUCSS
The first ever rugby team formed in Manchester (probably in UK as well)In all, winning or losing is not the primary matter. For me, it's the love and passion for the game that counts. And I hope to get a little bit more action of UK rugby in the future ahead.
2 comments:
bukan kau lebih suke main volley ker??
masih segar di ingatan aku tentang 'bola swimming' kau..
20 years ago a group of malaysians in coventry got together and formed a rugby team which later formed the backbone of the malaysian warwick rugby team of the early 90s. its great to see the tradition of malaysians playing rugby in the UK is still continued with you guys....
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