Believe it or
not, B7s is 16 years old this year! It could be a sweet sixteen or perhaps, a
rebellious teenage kid on the block, but the actual fact, she is extremely hot
this year! Literally, seriously. It was a hot weekend, Mother Nature was cranky
as she just could not decide between maintaining her periodic outburst of rain
or sunny laughters. There were buckets of sweat but all in the honor of the
fantastic line up of games ahead of us.
And as usual,
this will not be made possible, had it not been with the commitment of all hard
working committee members, our teams who are TRULY STARS of the two days event,
our major sponsors, our media friends and not forgetting, our fans out there,
wherever YOU are!
This year, the
Home of the Borneo Eagles, welcome back the Borneo Women 7s event, and our
grounds saw some fierce women ruggers from countries like South Korea,
Thailand, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Singapore and not forgetting our own Malaysia
and State team. They brought a refreshing variety to the much men dominated
B7s, and was indeed an attraction not lesser than the Men Category. This year,
we said “anyong haseho” to our Korean
Women Rugby Team, who made their way from the Land of the Morning Calm to the
Land Below the Wind and first time warming up the fields at the Home of the
Borneo Eagles. And we said Suvadika
when we gladly welcome back our Thai Women Team who was the Champion of the 1st
Borneo Women 7s. We also welcome back the women team from Sri Lanka, Singapore
and we said Mabuhay to the Eagles
Rugby Women of the Philippines! These ladies were not only fierce but they
meant business when they put on their rugby gears! Congrats to the Champion,
Sri Lanka for being the best of the bunch, and our hats off to the rest of the
contenders too.
Women Cup Champ-Sri Lanka
Women Cup Runners Up- Thailand
Women Plate Champ - South Korea
Women Plate Runners Up-Malaysia
Women Bowl Champ-Singapore
Women Bowl Runners Up-Philippines
And what did our
usual main course have in store for us this year? The “sweet 16” attracted
teams from Hong Kong, Australia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Philippines and our very
own, Malaysia. There were altogether 10 Men Teams competed for the crown of the
Borneo Sevens this year, and ERC featured its first collaboration team, with
the New Zealand Rugby, known as the NZ Borneo Eagles, headed by non-other than
the All Blacks Legend himself, Ed
Cocker.
And although,
this sweet sixteen started off with more than 26 potential contenders, we had
to face the blow of one cancellation after another. Just as how the women event
had to deal with cancellation from half of the group; nevertheless, the teams
who made it to the event, were indeed in the class of its own. Note from the Editor,
yours truly, must say, that Tribe 7s, a new face to the Borneo Sevens, was
indeed an impressive contender. Packed with experienced ruggers, they gave out
a strong competition to the NZ Borneo Eagles at the Finals. Our congrats to the
NZ Borneo Eagles for winning the crown, but none the less, Tribe 7s for the
great effort shown. We look forward to seeing more of the Tribe’s in the coming
edition of the Borneo 7s. Special thanks to Don & Felicity for bringing the
team over and making all this possible.
Men Cup Champ NZ Borneo Eagles
Men Cup Runners Up Tribe 7s, Australia
Similarly, we
would like to thank the rest of the teams, and their officials for being a part
of the Borneo Sevens, your presence made all the difference and in no
particular order, our thanks and appreciation to David Johnston & Ada Milby
of the Eagles Rugby Club, Philippines, Jane & Martin of Hong Kong Rugby
Union, Richard Jang, Sung Jin & Coach Sung Lyong of Korea Rugby Union,
Rohan of Sri Lanka Rugby Union, Yazid & Bob Liu of Singapore Rugby Union,
Nattapol of Thai Rugby Union, our own Malaysia’s Team & Club officials.
As we close the
16th edition of the Borneo 7s with sweet memories, here’s my toast
to a much eventful and successful year of rugby, to all our friends and fans,
thank you for all your support, and we shall meet again in 2018, hopefully,
with something Bigger & Better, cause at the Home of the Borneo Eagles, it
has always been and will always be MORE than just Rugby!
This is Kim,
signing off.
