KUALA LUMPUR: The 14 rugby teams competing in this year’s Agong’s Cup will get a shot in the arm as they will each receive a grant of RM5,000.
Malaysia Rugby (MR) competitions director Fahmy Jalil said the grant is in addition to the total cash prize of RM60,000 set aside for the Sept 23-Oct 21 tournament.
He said MR will also provide an additional grant of RM2,000 to the host teams, with each team having the opportunity to be the home team once.
“This year’s championship will begin with the group stage, which will be held in a round-robin format, with the five group winners and three best runners-up advancing to the quarter-finals,” he said in a statement today.
The quarter-finals will be held at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) on Oct 14-15. The semi-finals (Oct 18), third-fourth playoff and final (Oct 21) will be held at the Perak Rugby Stadium in Ipoh.
“For this year, MR will maintain the foreign player quota, which is that four of them can be registered in the 40-player list but only three can be fielded at any one time for every match,” he said.
Earlier, the Agong’s Cup draw pitted defending champions Putraya with Johor and Kelantan in Group A while last year’s runners-up Terengganu have been drawn in Group D with Negeri Sembilan and Selangor.
The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) can expect a tough time from the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and Pahang in Group B.
Group C comprises Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Perlis while Sabah and Sarawak make up Group E. –Bernama
