Avoiding one-sided battles
the past, there won’t be one sided matches in this year’s Agong’s Cup from Oct 6 to Nov 25.
To ensure keen competition, it will feature three divisions instead of two or three groups as previously.
The top-four teams from last year’s competition — winners Johor, runners-up Terengganu as well as Perak and Kedah — will compete in the top-tier Premier Division.
Division One will see Kelantan, Negri Sembilan, Armed Forces and Police locking horns while Division Two is split into Group A (Perlis, Selangor, Penang) and Group B (Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Malacca).
All the teams will play each other twice, home and away, during the group stage.
Malaysia Rugby (MR) tournament director Fahmy Jalil believes the new format will ensure a more balanced competition and avoid one-sided ‘cricket scores’ as seen in the past.
Johor team manager Hasbi Zaidi Hassan, whose side are in search of a third Agong’s Cup title, believes the changes will make for a much more challenging competition.
“In the past, you could anticipate which matches would be tough and which (easier) matches you could use to rotate your squad,” said Hasbi yesterday.
“But with this new system, there will be no room for easier time, every match will be tough. The quarter-finals will only feature lower division teams who either won or did well in their group, so they will be in good form.”
The knockout stages will be held at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia Stadium. The quarter-finals will see the Premier Division winners playing the Division Two winners, the second ranked team in the Premier Division playing the Division One runners-up, while the third ranked team in the Premier Division will face the Division One winners.
East Malaysia giants Sabah, as in previous seasons, have been given a bye straight to the lasteight where they will face the fourth-placed team in the Premier Division.
Sabah, winners in 2007, 2009, 2014, and 2015, have been excluded from the early group stages due to high travelling costs.