The Malaysia national rugby team lost 35-10 to South Korea in their opening match of the 2018 Asia Rugby Championship at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium today.

In the match, the world No.31 raced to a 8-0 lead in the first 10 minutes thanks to Oh Youn-hyung's third-minute penalty and Jang Jeong-min's try.

The Koreans widened the score to 21-0 before the end of the first half through Oh, who scored penalties in the 21st and 37th minute and was awarded a penalty try in the 25th minute.

In the second half, Jan cracked the Malaysian defence again with a try in the 48th minute, with Oh completing the conversion one minute later.

Malaysia finally scored in the 61st minute with a try by Timoci Vunimoku followed a conversion by Syarif Aazwan Sudin.

Malaysia collected three more points through Syarif Aazwan's penalty before South Korea sealed the game with a try by Kim Kwang-sik and a conversion by Oh in the dying minutes of the match.

Malaysia coach Lee Nyuk Fah was full of praise of the squad's performance against South Korea. 

"This is the first time Malaysia are playing in the ARC and it is an honour for us and the local rugby fans.

"We were bold enough to bounce back and the experience playing against South Korea was invaluable," he said.

Malaysia will meet world No. 22 Hong Kong on May 5 at the same venue before completing two more matches against South Korea (May 19 ) and Hong Kong (May 26) in their quest of qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.