Coach has no plans for naturalised players
rugby sevens coach Saizul Hafifi Md Noor is confident Malaysia will bounce back for a swift return to the Asia Sevens Series top tier next year.
Despite winning the Sea Games gold for the first time last year and finishing fifth at the recent Indonesia Asian Games, Malaysia were relegated from the Sevens Series’ top tier.
Malaysia will play in the second-tier Seven Series Trophy competition next year.
Hafifi was, however, impressed with the performances of his young charges in the final leg of the Sevens Series in Colombo, Sri Lanka last week where Malaysia finished sixth among eight teams.
Malaysia had finished last (eighth) in the first and second legs in Hong Kong and South Korea in September.
“I did not have high hopes going into the final round in Sri Lanka as our most of our senior players were injured or not available, so we had to use a young team which we intend to develop for the long term,” said Hafifi.
Hafifi said he has no choice but to groom these young players as many of the seniors will not be able to commit to fulltime training next year.
While the use of naturalised players is allowed and widely practised in all tiers of the Asia Seven Series, Hafifi, who did not use any single naturalised player this season, made it clear he has no intention to use them next season either.
“I do not think it is necessary for us to use naturalised players next season as we will be competing with teams such as Thailand and Singapore who are about the same level as us.
“And we also want to focus on developing our own players, which is important for the Sea Games and Asian Games in the future.”