Rugby: Piranhas bite first only to fire up Dominators

SIBU (Sept 11): Unheralded Bomba Rugby Club (BRC) Dominators beat Miri Piranhas 19-5 to lift the title of the inaugural 10-a-side Bro Albinus Memorial Cup played at SMK Sacred Heart rugby field last weekend.

The Piranhas made the first breakthrough when Johari Omar Junit pushed through a scrum for a try in the 5th minute although Mohd Nurshahizad Mahmud failed to convert. They held that narrow lead to the end of the first half.

Dominators had to wait until early in the second half for a try from Eric Durin in the 9th minute. Three minutes later, Cary Fylan picked up a loose ball and burst through the Mirian defence for the second try which was converted by Rafeel Sulaiman.

In the dying minutes, Stanly Sedri found space in mid field to charge through for another try. A prompt conversion by Fazrin Zahirin sealed a comfortable win for the Dominators.

The victory caught team manager Muhd Farid Ifwat somewhat surprised.

“Our initial target is to get at least the Plate champion like the last tournament in Bintulu 10’s last year. We never expect to win the title,” he confessed.

The BRC players are from the Fire and Rescue Department headquarters in Putrajaya.

“It was a good outing for my boys and, hopefully, we will return next year,” Farid added.

Meanwhile, Piranhnas team manager Faqrul Hafiz Abu Bakar was quite contented with the result.

“We hit our target of qualifying for the final and that alone is already about right to us.

“My players display great teamwork with a combination of senior and junior players from Miri,” he said and vowed to “return stronger and fitter next year.”