The winner of the event, which also features Guam and Indonesia, will vie against the Division II champion as part of the qualifying round for the 2015 Rugby World Cup that takes place in London. Pakistan, ranked 73rd, will bank on their preparation under the supervision of former Irish international Justin Fitzpatrick and team manager Rizwan Malik declared Pakistan favourites against the 77th-ranked opposition.
“We have a psychological edge over India,” Malik told The Express Tribune from Kuala Lumpur. “We’re ranked higher and we’re well prepared. The team has also acclimatised to the conditions as we’ve been here for a week while the Indians have just arrived.
“Fitzpatrick’s coaching has also improved the players’ attitude as they are now well aware of modern techniques. The boys are itching to do well in the game.”
PRU eyes improvement
Meanwhile, Pakistan Rugby Union President Fawzi Khwaja said the focus was on ‘slow and gradual’ progress.
“Realistically speaking, we don’t have much of a chance of qualifying for the World Cup,” said Khwaja. “Since only Asian two teams can go through, Japan [world number 14] and Korea [26] are the favourites besides Hong Kong [28] and Sri Lanka [46]. We’re new to international rugby and our target is to improve our ranking.”
However, Khwaja hoped for an intriguing clash with India. “They’re also new and are eyeing improvement. The match with them is going to be interesting.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2012.
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