KK Sharks are Labuan 10s Champions

on Aug 04 in News, Rugby in Asia tagged asia, borneo, kk sharks, labuan, rugby by Max

KK Sharks RFC is a social rugby club based in Borneo, which has been in existence for more than ten years. It started off as the Highlanders, a group of experienced rugby players got together and made rugby as a part of their lives. The club became dormant for quite some time and somehow felt that a new breath of air was required for the team to rise up. A couple of years ago, these rugby players pulled in a few more new blood who came from all over Sabah and have one thing in common, very passionate for rugby and formed KK Sharks RFC that introduced a new culture, that promotes tight brotherhood, understanding and unity. Currently, we are a registered club and have more than fifty members that include lady players as well as the junior players.

Recently, our team has been crowned as the cup champion for the 9th Labuan 10s tournament which was held a couple of weeks ago. It is one of the most sought after tournament in East Malaysia and there were about 16 teams participated from all over the country. Only allowing one professional player on the field per team, it is definitely a great opportunity for the locals to show off their skills in this extreme sport.

At the tournament, the KK Sharks faced stiff competition from the beginning being drawn in the same group as the Sabah Eagles. However, they emerged from the “group of death” in first place and earned the right to go into the Cup stage full of confidence. The first Cup semi-final pitted defending champions UiTM Sabah against the SEAHAWKS (Royal Malaysian Airforce) from West Malaysia. UiTM emerged victorious. In the second Cup semi-final saw Tawau Rugby Club take on the KK Sharks. It was a scrappy game but the Sharks were too strong for Tawau. The well-organised KK Sharks defence pressurised the Tawau team and led to an interception try for KK Sharks captain Azrul ‘Apo’ Hani. Another late try by the Shark’s captain sealed the win.

In the final UiTM and the KK Sharks – quite evenly matched teams – went head-to-head in an intense battle. In the first half the Sharks struck first and took a 12 -0 lead with tries by Philip Simon and Zoolhisham Zulkarnain. In the second half the UiTM Sabah team pulled back with a converted try to make it 12 – 7 which setup a grandstand finish. The next upcoming tournament will be the King’s Cup and the ‘Gilbert’ SRU President’s Cup.