Sally Chen (left) with Eric Ruan (middle) and Nature Li at a special rugby training camp at the Shanghai American University on Friday. Provided to China Daily

SHANGHAI - The scoreboard at Yuanshen Stadium did not make for pretty reading: Malaysia 42, Mongolia 0.

Sadly for the fledgling rugby team, it only got worse as it went down 59-0 to Hong Kong in its second match on the opening day of the HSBC Shanghai Sevens tournament Saturday.

The physical effort was there - as was made evident by some crunching tackles - but a lack of foot speed and technique were easily exposed by its more experienced group rivals.

However, Austin Gansukh, the squad's captain and coach, was not too disappointed with his charges' efforts after an energy-sapping three-day trip just to reach Shanghai on Friday.

"We got a train from Ulan Bator to the border, then a bus to Beijing and then a train to Shanghai," Gansukh said. "It was very tiring but we tried hard," he said after the Malaysia rout.

He also put some of that initial blowout down to a lack of experience in the team. "We are trying to blend in some young guys for the future and the experience that they get at tournaments like these will only help in the future," the 27-year-old said.

One would think the game of rugby would be tailor-made for Mongolians, who are renowned for their fighting spirit and strength, particularly on the wrestling mat.

"To be honest, we do not have the foot speed, but obviously we have the size. When it comes to rugby, it's about experience and learning the rules."

Gansukh also said the two "Ws" - wrestling and weather - impeded the sport's progress in his homeland.

"Wrestling is the professional sport in Mongolia and most athletes turn to that to make a living there's no money in rugby yet. Also our capital city is the coldest one in the world, so we don't get many opportunities to train.

"When we can, we train at most three times a week but it's also hard to find facilities. Hopefully, now that it is an Olympic sport we will get some help in that regard."

Most of the players are drawn from high schools, and the national squad boasts about 50 members.

"At the end of the day it's all about money, and once we start getting professional players it's going to get a lot better," Gansukh said.

Gansukh studied at the University of Cardiff, but it wasn't the rugby-mad Welsh who drew him to the sport.

"No, my brother-in-law James Todd Wood was a Hong Kong international and he got me interested in it. Before that I wrestled."

He's still grappling now, but that's what Mongolians do.

Now for the trip back home.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/28/2011 page7)