Japan supplies BRFU with additional muscle

THE Brunei Rugby Football Union (BRFU) yesterday established a partnership with the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) who will assist with the development of rugby in Brunei.

The partnership will see JRFU support Brunei rugby by providing essential equipment that will help enhance and develop the sport in the country.

Fifty training rugby balls worth $2,000 were supplied by the JRFU to the BRFU yesterday. The donation ceremony was held at the Embassy of Japan in Brunei.

Present at the event were Ambassador of Japan to Brunei Darussalam Noriki Hirose, President of BRFU Dr Hj Kamaruddin Dato Paduka Hj Talib and JRFU representative and General Manager of the Japan National Rugby Team Kensuke Iwabuchi. Also in attendance was Pg Suhaimi Pg Hj Bakar from the Ministry of Education.

The training rugby balls will be distributed to 10 chosen schools for the BRFU Grassroot Development Programme.

The programme will officially commence on April 1.

The chosen schools are; Perdana Wazir Secondary School (Kuala Belait), PJNPH Abu Bakar Secondary School (Mumong), St James School (Kuala Belait), Meragang Sixth Form Centre, Lambak Kiri Secondary School, Berakas Secondary School, Sayyidina Husain Secondary School (Sengkurong), Katok Sixth Form Centre, Rimba 1 Secondary School and PSB SOAS Primary School (Kuala Belait).

The programme is supported by the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) who will be providing coaching personnel who are already attached teachers in the schools.

These teachers will create rugby clubs as part of the schools' Extra Curricular Activities (ECA).

In an interview with the media, Dr Hj Kamaruddin said, "We (BRFU) want them (JRFU) to help us with the coaches and with other equipment. Because in rugby, we have protective shields, scrum machine... so quite a number of equipment."

"But the more important thing is that we want to send some of our boys to Japan to be trained there for a few months. To expose them," he said.

"The boys who will be selected for training in Japan will have to be among the elite players in Brunei, they have to be fit and have had played in many games.

"Their behaviour and discipline, that is also important," added the BRFU President who explained that BRFU will also be selecting players between the ages of 12 and 13 where they will undergo training for touch rugby.

Only at the age of 16 above, will players start contact rugby, he explained.

"They will do touch rugby only, no tackling because we don't want them to be injured," said Dr Hj Kamaruddin.

Before the players are sent off, their parents will be given a letter asking for consent, he added.

With regards to the relationship of Brunei and Japan in rugby, according to Dr Hj Kamaruddin, Japan is Asia's No 1 and they are the "rugby powerhouse".

"They have a lot of experience, they never fail to qualify for the world cup. They are the nearest we can learn from," he said.

Ambassador Hirose, meanwhile, said that he believed the partnership will help to further foster and strengthen the relationship of both countries.

"I believe this sport exchange between JRFU and BRFU will further deepen Japan-Brunei relationship which will give a tremendous boost to Japan when we (Japan) host the Rugby World Cup in 2019," he said.

As a symbol of the rugby balls being donated, a rugby ball signed by rugby players from the Japan National Team was handed over by Ambassador Hirose to Dr Hj Kamaruddin.

The Brunei Times