COBRA Rugby Tens - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

COBRA 10s is the world’s premier rugby tens

Rugby tens

Rugby tens, also known as ten-a-side and Xs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of ten players, typically five forwards and five backs. Matches are much shorter, often of two ten-minute halves...

tournament which is organized annually by the COBRA Rugby Club of Malaysia

COBRA Rugby Club of Malaysia

The Combined Old Boys Rugby Association is a prominent rugby club in Malaysia under the Selangor Rugby Union and Malaysia Rugby Union. Over the years COBRA has produced many outstanding rugby players at the national and state level...

.

The first COBRA 10s tournament was held in Malaysia in 1967. Today, 16 top teams from around the world compete for the coveted Hui Weng Chun Challenge Trophy and title as Tens champion.

HSBC Bank, a name globally recognised and synonymous with rugby has been the tournament's main sponsor since 2005.

The 2011 COBRA 10s will be held on the 12–13 November at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The Penguins International RFC of the UK are the current defending champions and will be returning to defend their title.

Overview

A Tens game lasts 20 minutes except for the final, which lasts 30 minutes. Played fast and furious, it is an exciting variation of the popular game of rugby Sevens but more closely related to the rugby Fifteens format. The Tens allows both forward and back line play. The key factor here is all-round skills are translated into teamwork at fast pace.

Yearly, a total of 16 top teams from all over the world are invited to participate in this prestigious tournament which is played over two days.

History

Although Malaysia may seem an unlikely place for the making of rugby history, yet it was here that 10-a-side rugby was born. The world's first 10 a-side rugby tournament was held in Malaysia in 1967. The Tens tournament was indeed a brainchild of a menagerie of Combined Old Boys Rugby Association (COBRA) members. The Tens game was conceived on the barstools of their favourite after match haunt. The idea was to create a format of play that is fast and open but still retains much of the character of the 15s version.

COBRA Tens In The Early Years

The COBRA 10s in its early years was mainly participated by local clubs and several invited foreign teams. The tournament was keenly contested between the expatriate- dominated Royal Selangor Club and COBRA. Then the military took over. First the Royal Australian Artillery Regiment, then the 16 th and then 1 st Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (RZNIR) made the 10s their own - except for brief interruptions by COBRA in 1972 and 1975. The RNZIR in fact won it for seven straight years until most of them were shipped back to New Zealand , thus allowing the curiously named Bunnies to take the title in 1985. The Police took it for two years in a row but the stragglers of the RNZIR, in their final year in Malaysia , wrested the trophy for one last time.

COBRA Tens - Present Day

In 1992, the COBRA Tens went fully international. That year Australian champions, Randwick of Sydney, defeated a very strong Marist St. Joseph of Samoa in a thoroughly fascinating encounter . For the first time, rugby luminaries, namely Lawrence Dallaglio

Lawrence Dallaglio

Lorenzo Bruno Nero "Lawrence" Dallaglio, OBE is a retired English rugby union player and former captain of the English national team. He played as a flanker or number eight for London Wasps and never played for another club, having arrived at Sudbury as a teenager...

(former England captain), Australian hooker, and later captain, Phil Kearns

Phil Kearns

Philip Nicholas Kearns is a former Australian rugby union player. He represented Australia 67 times and was captain of on 10 occasions....

, and All Black Olo Brown

Olo Brown

Olo Max Brown was born 24 October 1967 in Apia, Samoa. He played 56 tests at prop for the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team from 1992 to 1998, missing only two tests in his career. He suffered neck and back injuries which ended his rugby playing days, and retired to become a lawyer.-External links:...

played on Malaysian soil. Subsequent tournaments have featured internationals such as Tony Underwood

Tony Underwood

Tony Underwood is a former English rugby union footballer who played as a wing three-quarter back. He is of Chinese-English parentage....

(England), Waisale Serevi

Waisale Serevi

Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi is a former Fijian rugby union footballer, and coach. Although he played fifteen-a-side rugby throughout his playing career, Serevi is most notable for his achievements in rugby sevens....

(Fiji), Brian Lima

Brian Lima

Brian Lima is a former Samoan rugby union footballer who was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in 2011. Originally a wing, Lima moved into centre for Manu Samoa as his pace lessened, but he remained a formidable player throughout his career.He earned the memorable nickname of "The Chiropractor"...

(Samoa), Uale Mai

Uale Mai

Uale Mai Vala is a rugby union player and currently plays for the country's national teams, Manu Samoa and Samoa Sevens. He is a former captain of the Samoa Sevens team which represent Samoa internationally in the IRB Sevens World Series. He is Sevens rugby's most capped player and is considered...

(Samoa), Amasio Valence

Amasio Valence

Amasio Valence is a Rugby sevens player who switched allegiances to New Zealand after he first made his break into professional rugby in 2000...

(New Zealand) among many other notable names in rugby.

Event Venue

The inaugural COBRA 10s tournament was held at the Astaka Field in Petaling Jaya in 1967 and during the tournament's early years, the Astaka field became the home of the Tens.

When the first fully international version of the COBRA 10s was introduced in 1992, the Kuala Lumpur Stadium in Cheras became the new home of the Tens and for subsequent tournaments till 1997.

Since then the COBRA 10s is held annually at the MBPJ Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The stadium, which was built in preparation for the 1998 Commonwealth Games, was also the venue for the Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens. The COBRA 10s was brought back to the Astaka field in Petaling Jaya for brief moments in 1998 and 2009.

Grouping of Teams

16 teams will be grouped into four groups of four.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
A1	B1	C1	D1
A2	B2	C2	D2
A3	B3	C3	D3
A4	B4	C4	D4

Day 1 - Preliminary Round

The Preliminary Rounds shall be played in accordance with a round robin format. Each team shall play three matches against teams within their group.

Points will be awarded as follows :

WIN - Two (2) Points
DRAW - One (1) Point
WALKOVER - Two (2) Points
LOSS - Zero (0) Points

Day 2 - Knockout Round

In the second round, the two (2) top teams in each group will advance to the Cup/Plate Championship Pool.

The 3rd and 4th placed teams in each group will advance to the Bowl Championship pool.

Cup Championship Pool

Quarter-finals :

The winners in the Cup Championship pool will advance to the Cup Semi Finals (while the losers will advance to the Plate Semi Finals).

A1 vs B2
B1 vs A2
C1 vs D2
D1 vs C2

Cup Semi Finals :

Semi finals shall be played on a knock-out system

Winner A1-B2 vs Winner C1-D2
Winner A2-B1 vs Winner C2-D1

Plate Championship Pool

The losers of the Cup/Plate Quarter Finals will advance to the Plate Semi Finals.
Semi Finals :

Semi finals shall be played on a knock-out system

Loser A1-B2 vs Loser C1-D2
Loser A2-B1 vs Loser C2-D1

Bowl Championship Pool

Quarter-finals :

Quarter Finals will be played on a knock-out basis.

A3 vs B4
B3 vs A4
C3 vs D4
D3 vs C4

Bowl Semi Finals :

Semi finals shall be played on a knock-out system.

Winner A3-B4 vs Winner C3-D4
Winner A4-B3 vs Winner C4-D3

Rugby Development Activities During the Tens

During the week of the tournament, rugby development activities are conducted with the assistance from participating teams.
Among the activities organised are :

Rugby coaching clinics for schoolboys
Referees seminar
Rugby friendlies with local teams

Past Champions

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Team !! Country
|-
| 2010 || Penguins International Rugby Football Club || United Kingdom
|-
| 2009 || Borneo Eagles || Malaysia
|-
| 2008 || COBRA || Malaysia
|-
| 2007 || Canterbury Rugby Football Union

Canterbury Rugby Football Union

The Canterbury Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in a substantial part of the Canterbury region, in the middle of the South Island of New Zealand...

|| New Zealand
|-
| 2006 || Penguins International Rugby Football Club || United Kingdom
|-
| 2005 || Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph is Samoan rugby union club that has produced the players such as Brian Lima, Afato Sooalo, and Semo Sititi....

|| Samoa
|-
| 2004 || Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph is Samoan rugby union club that has produced the players such as Brian Lima, Afato Sooalo, and Semo Sititi....

|| Samoa
|-
| 2003 || Red Rock || Fiji
|-
| 2002 || No tournament ||
|-
| 2001 || No tournament ||
|-
| 2000 || Barbarians || Australia
|-
| 1999 || Tygerberg College || South Africa
|-
| 1998 || COBRA || Malaysia
|-
| 1997 || Fiji Rugby Union

Fiji Rugby Union

Fiji Rugby Union is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance , along with Samoa and Tonga. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population...

|| Fiji
|-
| 1996 || Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph

Marist St. Joseph is Samoan rugby union club that has produced the players such as Brian Lima, Afato Sooalo, and Semo Sititi....

|| Samoa
|-
| 1995 || New Zealand Māori rugby union team

New Zealand Maori rugby union team

New Zealand Māori is a rugby union team that traditionally plays teams touring New Zealand. A prerequisite for playing in this team is that the player is to have Māori whakapapa or genealogy. In the past this rule was not strictly applied. In the past non-Māori players who looked Māori were often...

(Development Side) || New Zealand
|-
| 1994 || Penguins Rugby Football Club || United Kingdom
|-
| 1993 || Penguins Rugby Football Club || United Kingdom
|-
| 1992 || Randwick DRUFC

Randwick DRUFC

Randwick District Rugby Union Football Club, also known as the Galloping Greens, is an Australian rugby union club which competes in the Sydney grade competition. The club was formed in 1882 and since then has won 31 first grade premierships and seven Australian club championships...

|| Australia
|-
| 1992 || Start of Fully International Tournament ||
|-
| 1991 || No tournament ||
|-
| 1990 || Royal Malaysian Air Force Blackhawks || Malaysia
|-
| 1989 || Republic of Fiji Military Forces || Fiji
|-
| 1988 || 1st Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment