On May 23, player Azlan Azhari, who was playing for the Kedah state team against Johor in the 2026 Agung Cup, a domestic interstate tournament, collapsed about five minutes after scoring his try. The 22-year-old was taken off the pitch and taken to hospital where he was placed in an artificial coma but died two days later. The cause of death was heat stroke, dehydration and organ failure.
Adam Putra Syahril, 21, died on May 23 after collapsing during a Penang Sukma Rugby training session, while earlier last month, on May 10, former national team player Mohamed Khairul Abdullah Ramli, 34, suffered a ruptured aorta on the bus home after an Agung Cup match.
While rugby players are accustomed to physical injuries, and collisions in the game, which occur primarily through tackling, have become more violent as the size and speed of athletes increases, the trio’s sudden deaths have raised questions about whether more adjustments should be made in countries like Malaysia where the weather is particularly unforgiving.
Rugby players in Malaysia often face temperatures of up to 30 °C (86 °F), as well as high humidity levels. This means additional pressure on athletes, according to Yuri Hosokawa, an associate professor at Waseda University’s School of Sports Sciences. If humidity is high, players “cannot compensate for heat gained through sweat,” she said. “In Asia, we struggle with that.”
World Rugby has published guidelines for managing the risk of heat illness in 2025, which include a “graded intervention framework” recommending increased cooling, fluid intake and rest periods during play depending on conditions. Global warming means the situation has “changed radically in the past few years,” Hosokawa said.
