KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Police rugby team’s mental resilience is what won them the Agong’s Cup for a third consecutive year, says their head coach K. Dinesvaran.
Dinesvaran praised his charges’ never-say-die attitude after coming from behind to edge Johor 18-17 in a nail biting final at the UM Arena yesterday (Oct 26).
The match was a repeat of last year’s final.
“Honestly, I was not expecting Johor to come with this much energy. I anticipated that the first half would be hard, but we would gain control in the second half,” said Dinesvaran yesterday.
“In the end, we won it by one point. What a close game.
“I reminded the boys’ that we have faced tough times before. We faced similar circumstances against Kelantan and almost lost to them.
“From there we slowly built up our mental resilience and now, we can still come back even when faced with tough situations.”
Police’s third Agong’s Cup victory in a row reaffirmed their status as the current heavyweights of Malaysian rugby.
Kelantan had pushed Police hard in the group stage (26-25) and semi-finals (40-30) but lost both matches.
Perlis were arguably the surprise package of the season, making the semi-finals for the first time since 2008.
They narrowly lost 35-34 to Johor in the semi-finals and later lost 50-39 to Kelantan in the third place playoff.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
