KUALA LUMPUR: The Super Schools Rugby Fifteens reaches a long-waited finale when defending champions Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) take on SM Sains Hulu Selangor (SEMASHUR) in the final of the Malaysia Airports Chairman’s Challenge Trophy in Tanjung Malim on Saturday.
In the semi-finals, MCKK trounced 2017 champions Victoria Institution (VI) 15- 3 while SEMASHUR narrowly beat Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR) 26-21 in a fiercely-fought affair en route to the final match.
In last year’s edition, MCKK emerged champions in the final match and won their second Super Schools championship since its inception, beating SEMASHUR 25-10 at the same venue in Tanjung Malim. Meanwhile, SEMASHUR made their first final match appearance last year.
Both MCKK and SEMASHUR finished top of Group A and B respectively before coming to the playoffs. Group A consists of STAR, VI and SM Sains Selangor (SMSS) while Group B includes English College (EC), Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak (SDAR) and Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah (SAS).
The Malaysia Airports Chairman’s Challenge Trophy final will be held at 4.00pm on Saturday at Proton City Stadium, Tanjung Malim.
Defending champions MCKK are being coached by assistant coach of the national team, Mohd Romli Saad and SEMASHUR are headed by its head coach, Mohd Salleh Abdul Hamid.
According to Nik Anis Nik Zakaria, General Manager of Corporate Communications for Malaysia Airports, one of the organisation’s CSR initiatives is to promote sports and nurture leadership in students as part of the company’s contribution to building the nation. “This year, we are proud to introduce the new Grassroots Development programme that focuses on sports mentoring starting with nurturing the rugby culture at two schools.
These schools will have a chance to play their first match during the Malaysia Airports Chairman’s Challenge Trophy 2019 this 27 April 2019,” she said.
She continued to explain that sports is one such area that builds character and inculcates values essential to become a good leader. Malaysia Airports hopes to inspire more children to pick up this beneficial sport through this programme.
“We are proud to be the title sponsor for the 5th year in a row for the Super Schools Rugby Fifteens Tournament. Not only are we pleased that the tournament is recognised and endorsed by the Ministry of Education and the Malaysian Rugby Union, we are also very excited to be a catalyst in promoting rugby among the schools in the country,” said Nik Anis.
“Rugby is a sustainable sport with high prospects to be developed further and only the best schools with proper rugby programmes are selected to participate in the tournament. Therefore, we are happy with the significant impact it brings to the overall tournament scene and the players involved.” she further added.
Super Schools Fifteens is aimed at supporting school rugby by organising a 15’s tournament amongst the best rugby playing schools in Malaysia in view of the lack of such competition outside the biennial MSSM tournament.