Malaysia suffer terrible defeat to favourites Hong Kong
KUALA LUMPUR: Two matches, two defeats.
Malaysia were no match for favourites Hong Kong and were outplayed 67-8 in the Asia Premier Division match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
It was the eighth win for world No. 22 Hong Kong over Malaysia in all competitions.
Malaysia who featured for the first time in the Premier Division, lost 35-10 to South Korea at the same venue last week.
Hong Kong packed too much power and took a comfortable 27-5 lead in the first-half.
The visitors won the match with 10 tries, seven conversions and a penalty.
Thomas Lamboley, Kam Shing Yiu and Jamie Pincott were the stars for Hong Kong as each of them made two tries.
Jack Neville, Liam Slatem, Conor Hartley and Robert Keith contributed the other tries.
Matthew Rosslee converted a penalty and made the conversions.
Malaysia, despite having six Fijians and one Samoan, only made one try and one penalty in the match.
Etonia Saukuru made the try and Amin Jamaluddin converted the penalty.
Coach Lee Nyuk Fah said that his men played well in the first half but his team collapsed after the break.
“Hong Kong have far more experience than us. We got a lot of work to do to improve the team.
“It will take some time for our team to be on par with them.
“Our players need to play more top level matches before we can close the gap with Hong Kong and the Koreans,” said the former international.
Malaysia will play two away matches against South Korea in Incheon on May 19 and Hong Kong on May 26 in Hong Kong.
The team that finish third in the Premier Division will be relegated to Division One next year.