The Pakistan rugby team arrived back in Lahore after a tour of Malaysia where Pakistan participated in the Asian 5 nations tournament .
in the first match Pakistan put up a brave fight in the first half against a Chinese side occupying 42th spot in the IRB World Rankings and trailed only 15-12 with first half tries from China Arsalan Zahid and Sair Riaz and converted by Captain Kashif Khawaja.
in the first match Pakistan put up a brave fight in the first half against a Chinese side occupying 42th spot in the IRB World Rankings and trailed only 15-12 with first half tries from China Arsalan Zahid and Sair Riaz and converted by Captain Kashif Khawaja.
The second half was played under grueling and humid conditions but the Chinese winger scored the first try which was nullified by a try by Kashif Khawja which he converted himself. Pakistan was only one converted try away from beating the team ranked 42 in the world, and for the last 10 minutes battered the China defence within the Chinese 22. However the loss of a player to the sin-bin within a minute of the restart allowed China to stamp their authority on the match.
The second match between Malaysia and India was an entertaining affair with Mohd Fairuz Abd Rahman giving the hosts an early lead with a penalty in a match which saw the full back contribute 15 points of their 43 scored.
With Malaysia’s trio of Fijian-born players combining well in the centre and the right wing, the hosts consistently made ground in the backs despite some strong defence from India’s centre pairing of captain Nasser Hussain – who had moved from back row to inside centre – and Bikash Jena.
With Malaysia’s trio of Fijian-born players combining well in the centre and the right wing, the hosts consistently made ground in the backs despite some strong defence from India’s centre pairing of captain Nasser Hussain – who had moved from back row to inside centre – and Bikash Jena.
The match was still very much in the balance at half time with Malaysia leading 23-14, an advantage cut within minutes of the restart when Rohaan Sethna kicked a penalty. However Semi Sovunidakua then collected a nicely weighted kick from fly half Mahammad Faiz Shamsukidir to dot down in the corner for Malaysia.
Further tries from centre Timoci Nacokula and number 8 and captain Mohd Azwan Azimi increased that advantage to 40-17, but India refused to give up with the match already lost and score two tries in the final 10 minutes through Hussain and Ganesh Sawant.
An interesting spectator in the crowd with England’s record try scorer Rory Underwood, who returned to his boyhood home in Kuala Lumpur to visit the tournament after helping to launch this year’s HSBC Asian Five Nations in Hong Kong in April.
“In the first game between China and Pakistan both teams showed a lot of Endeavour and determination and in the second game the standard of both teams was really great,” said Underwood.
On the final Day The hosts went into the match ranked 34 places below China in the IRB World Rankings, but enjoyed a comfortable victory over a side who entered the tournament with only 19 players. China gave it their all and defended well and actually took the lead with a strong attack from the kick-off allowing Zhun Chen to cross the try-line.
However the Malaysians were hungry for the victory before their fans and replied almost immediately with a try from their Fijian-born centre Nacani Seniu, the conversion slotted between the uprights by fly half Mohammad Faiz Shamsukidir who caught the eye throughout with a man of the match display.
Malaysia can look forward to playing Singapore (relegated from the Top 5), Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka in Division I in 2010, while China will remain in Division II with Thailand (relegated from Division I), India and the winner of Division III involving Philippines, Guam, Iran and Indonesia which takes place next month.
India ensured they remained in Division I with a 44-3 victory over Pakistan in the third place play-off. The match, which was played in scorching conditions, belied the score as it was a fairly tight affair with the victors scoring four of their six tries through their tight five.
Having been unlucky to be drawn against the eventual champions Malaysia on the opening day, India performed solidly under their new coaching team of Norman Lake and Hendre Marnitz with tries coming from Parvinder Singh, Hemant Kumar (2), Surinder Singh, captain Nasser Hussain and Bikash Jena.
Pakistan will be relegated to Division III for 2010, but despite that disappointment they can draw positives from blooding six new players in Malaysia and also the fact that they had significantly closed the gap from their meeting with India last year
Even though the results on the field were not great for Pakistan the importance of the tour will be seen in the development of Pakistan rugby
This years squad was made of mostly new players 6 players received there first cap and the team got a chance take advantage of Foreign coaching.
IRB and ARFU as part of Asian Rugby Development program had organized two professional coaches to work with Pakistan team. MR Chris Lloyd who is a coach of the London wasp and mr. Hugh who is the Scotland national team forwards coach
The team went over all aspect of the game with each skill and positional role outlined and defined from defense to attack from line out to scrums . it was great 10 days of intensive rugby for the national side . the results of the training and work will show in the future .
A couple of the players also took part in a Exhibition touch rugby match (china Malaysia Pakistan combined against the sponsors HSBC which also included the Famous England star MR Rory Underwood
The Pakistan vs India national team rivalry was also followed by the TV rugby documentary channel Total rugby. which also included a Good bad and ugly shoot out scene at the pool Pakistan captain for the India Pakistan Match Manan Vs Nasir Husain the Indian team captain.
the coaching and management staff on tour also gained from the advise and training from the IRB trainers and have come back eager to pass this on the rest of the players in Pakistan
The traveling squad consisted of the following players Front row Aftab Ashraf Qureshi , Taimur Zia Butt , , Bilal Mehmood Butt , Fouzan Majeed Wain , Salman Majeed Wain , Locks , Azmat Khan Niazi , , Back Row , Shakeel Ahmed , Muhammad Babar , Mansoor Rehan Scrum Half Zaheer Uddin Ahmed Khan Niazi , Umer Usman ,, Fly Half Juniad Malik , Umer Islam , Backs Kashif Khawaja (Captain) , Muhammad Manan Naseem (Vice Captain) ,Anwaar-Ul-Haq Zafar,Arsalan Zahid,,Siar Riaz , Hashim Niazi , Muhammad Shehbaz Muneer , Baber Shahzad
The following six players wore the Pakistan got to play for the nation team for the first time the six new caps were Moazzam Ali Shah ,M Yasir Fida , agha Nawazish ali , Syed Xeeshan Rizvi , Syed Usama Ahmed and M Junaid Liaqat
Team Manager on tour was Khuram Haroon , the coach was Mr. Rizwan Malik , and Physiotherapist is Rashid Hafeez
Paksitan Rugby union national team management is planning to spend the next few months working with the Pakistan 7s national team , the Pakistan development side and the National under 20 team with planed tour and possible home games for all of these teams.
