Wesley ‘B’ beat Wesley ‘A’ to win under 16 Cup Championship
In a Home vs Home final Wesley College ‘B’ beat their ‘A’ side to win the Cup Championship of the Under-16 segment of the inaugural Synergy RA Tag Rugby 7s Tournament held at Havelock Park last Saturday. In the Plate Championship S. Thomas’ Prep School beat Thurstan College to emerge winners. Kandy Rugby Academy beat St. Benedict’s College to win the Bowl Championship.
Hisham Abdeen Rugby Football Academy (HARFA) won the Under-16 10-a-side TriAcademy Championship. To keep the spirit of the game and encourage youngsters, the Under-12 age category did not have a winner as all participants were presented with participation certificates.
Old Wesley Sports Club beat Zahira Old Boys Rugby Association (ZOBRA) to win the Over-35 Cup Championship.
The day was a fun filled rugby extravaganza for the young and young at heart as the spectators were treated to some wonderful tag rugby. The day’s proceedings started off with the opening ceremony and the introduction of all teams.
The tournament was played in a 12-a-side format for Under16s and Under-12s while a 7-a-side tag rugby format was adopted for Over-35 and Investment Banking Units Segment segments. As the day progressed the spectator stands were filled with familiar rugby stalwarts.
Synergy RA, the organisers and conductors of the tournament, was formed in 2013 with 20 youngsters and by today it has grown to be a haven for 80 kids, mainly from lesser known and international schools that are not engaged in Rugby. Including Nazeem Ghaffoor, who is also a well-read analyst and coach, there are seven members in the coaching staff. The Synergy RA has been conducting its training sessions at the Prison Grounds in Borella since the inception and they are planning to grow bigger in time to come.
“One of our biggest achievements was that Synergy RA had been able to reach players of schools that rugby is not part of their extra-curricular activi- College
Over-35
Association Wesley College ‘B’ Wesley College ‘A’ S. Thomas’ Prep Champions HARFA Thurstan College Kandy Rugby St. Benedict’s
Under-16 10-a-Side Tri Academy Challenge Trophy
Old Wesley SC Zahira Old Boys Rugby
Investment Banking Unit
CDB Amana Bank Sri Lanka Savings HNB Assurance Amana Holdings ‘A’ Amana Holding ties. Our exercise in introducing rugby to players of these schools through our academy has turned out to be a great success. One of our major achievements was to get the players from International Schools into rugby. International Schools very seldom show interest on rugby as their main sports are either football or basketball. But Synergy RA has a good number of players from this sector. Another of our efforts was to highlight players from schools that are not into rugby, to the mercantile sector, so they can be supported in the future. We plan to grow and help the children in our academy too grow simultaneously, through tournaments like these,” Ghaffoor explained.
The inaugural Synergy Tag Rugby Carnival was sponsored by Arpico Finance, who has come forward to support the event and the game with great enthusiasm. Top contributors to and former great in Rugby -Ibrahim ‘Tanker’ Hamid, Tony Amit and Hisham Abdeen marked their presence at the event as special invitees.