ICONZ thrash Malaysia 7s in Borneo Sevens quarter-finals
SANDAKAN: Malaysia 7s were hammered 40-7 by ICONZ in the quarter-finals of the Borneo Sevens Rugby Championships.
But coach Saizul Hafifi Mohd Nor was far from disappointed.
As expected, the Australian team dominated play from the start to make six tries and five conversions but Malaysia managed to break the duck in the dying seconds.
David Yabsley was the toast for ICONZ when he made three tries followed by Josh Turner (two) and Brody Eastwood (one).
The conversions were made by Turner (three) and Allan Tuigamalla (two).
Malaysia were trailing 40-0 before Mohd Zaiheri Zumardi made a try just before the final whistle and Muhammad Azwan Zuwairi Mat Zizi converted it.
Saizul said his men showed they had improved as they had never scored points against the favourites before.
“They’re a strong team. We’ve played against them without earning a point but this time, we scored. It was a morale-boosting win,” said Saizul.
The team are using the Borneo Sevens as part of their preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.
“We have three weeks to iron out our shortcomings,” he said.
“Mohamad Khairul (Abdillah Ramli) suffered a knee injury in the match against ICONZ and I’ll assess his injury before I name the final 12 players for the Games,” said Saizul.
In an earlier Group B matche, Malaysia suffered a 48-0 beating by Tribe 7s of Australia before they bounced back to outplay Tainan Chang Jung Rugby Team of Taiwan 36-0 to finish as the runners-up.
In the semi-finals today, ICONZ meet Hong Kong Dragon while Sri Lanka face defending champions Borneo Eagles for a place in the final.