The Brunei national rugby team
suffered their second loss 28-0
to Cambodia in the Asian 5
Nations Division 5 tournament
on Sunday, at the RCAF Old
Stadium, Phnom Penh. Picture:
BT file
The Brunei national rugby team lost their second game 28-0 to Cambodia in the Asian 5 Nations Division 5 tournament on Sunday, at the RCAF Old Stadium, Phnom Penh.
The two teams saw an equal battle between themselves in the early minutes of the first half.
It wasn't long before Cambodia's winger Vanara Norn chipped the ball past the Bruneian defence to then chase the ball down to score the first try early in the half, which was converted by Alexis Chevalier to open the game at 7-0.
Cambodia's Flanker Matthew Reese scored the second try after their maul pushed back Brunei to the try line within 10 minutes of the first try, which was also converted by Chevalier to bring the score to 14-0.
Cambodian scrumhalf Wilkie scored the third try of the game from a quick tap and go penalty followed by a conversion from Chevalier to distance the gap to 21-0.
The last try of the game saw Cambodia's captain Vireak Vannak make an agile run through Brunei's defence, which Chevalier went onto convert to see the score at 28-0.
Cambodian coach Laurie Karatau who coached his team to their two wins said, "After Friday we knew that Brunei would be a wounded lion."
"They have a lot of pride and we knew they would come out and hit us with everything, which they did, so we had to prepare for that.
"We stressed to our guys the importance of being able to weather that challenge and to stick to our game plan and we were successful.
"I think the key to the win was that obviously our defence was very good across both games and it showed on the scoreboard.
"We also played well together as a team, which is what he have been trying to do and had a better preparation than in years past.
"We trained for two solid months to prepare for this tournament with a focus on improving our ball skills and our fitness and physicality and it paid off.
"I'm quite confident with the standard we are achieving in Cambodia and we are starting to build a lot of depth," added Karatau.
It was a back to back loss for Brunei after losing their first match 38-0 on Friday.
Brunei recorded a 19-15 win over Cambodia during last year's tournament after a big come back from 15-0 down going into the second half.
