2031 target for World Cup

watching the national team taking on the best in the Rugby World Cup one day?

Malaysia Rugby (MR) believe it could happen in 2031.

Malaysia have been making great strides in 15s rugby in recent years.

They moved up from the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) second division to the top-tier, alongside Hong Kong and South Korea, for the first time last year.

“Qualifying for the World Cup is not easy, especially as there is only one slot for Asia at the moment,” said MR president Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya.

“It might take us less time to be able to beat Hong Kong and Korea but beating Japan will be tougher which is why we believe 12 years is a more reasonable duration for us to qualify for the World Cup.

“We can say that we want to qualify in four years but the reality is that it is too short a time, even eight years is tough.

“We can achieve it in 12 years but there has to be good planning. We are, in fact, working on strengthening our age-group development because the players who will compete for us in 2031 are now in primary school.

“The World Cup quota for Asia might increase by then and if it does, our chances will be brighter.”

Meanwhile, Shahrul has confirmed that he will be defending his position as president of the association in July

Shahrul said he made the decision to defend his post after attending MR’s executive committee (exco) meeting on Saturday.

“During the meeting, I had asked our affiliates about my position and they gave me their feedback. Based on that, I would like to offer myself (as a candidate) to continue leading MR for another term during the Annual General Meeting-cum-elections in July.