St. John’s College ‘A’ emerge Cup champions at junior rugby talent hunt
The inaugural Rugby Training Programme conducted by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union ( SLRFU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education got off to a fine star t at the Vadukkoddai National School ground in Jaffna last Wednesday. This training programme was conducted through SLRFU’s Rugby Navodya was held for youngsters of Under-16 from the region.
After a training programme conducted for 15 selected novice rugby referees the previous day, the competition for schools among nine teams took off under the watchful eyes of the development officers of SLRFU. St. John’s College ‘A’ became the winners of this historic event by emerging Cup champions in the first- of- its- kind rugby tournament. They beat Hindu College ‘ B’ Chavakachcheri by 15-0.
Hindu College ‘A’ Chavakachcheri annexed the Bowl championship of the competition beating St. John’s ‘ B’ by 15- 10 in a close battle. St. Anthony’s College Kytes comfortably beat St. Patrick’s 20- 10 to win the shield title.
According to the programme coordinator, K. S. P. Karunaratne four players with future potential will be selected from this tournament for the National Under- 16 rugby training squad conducted by the Ministry of Education.
In addition referees who were given a training session the previous day was made use at this tournament, where they were given the opportunity to work alongside experienced referees of Sri Lanka Rugby Referees’ Society ( SLRRS). The rugby referees training session was conducted by Anil Jayasinghe and Kamal Jayawardena, two members of SLRRS while several other top referees also assisted the trainers.
During the training programme rugby officials who visited Jaffna distributed rugby balls and playing kits among the Jaffna schools with the intention of popularising the game in the region. Rugby balls are a donation made by Isipathana College Colombo while Wesley College Rugby Committee member Imthisham Mohideen came forward to sponsor the playing jerseys of schools. The rugby coordinator for SLRFU from the Northern region, Lieutenant Colonel Ajith Kariyakarawana made all necessary arrangements available to make this training programme a g reat success according to Karunaratne.
The Rugby Navodya Development programme was conducted under the blessing of the International Rugby Board and it hopes to reach the Eastern province of the country with similar intensions.
“It’s a massive operation and the responses we received even prior to the beginning of the programme were overwhelming. This is a result of a massive collaboration of the SLRFU, Ministry of Education, SLRRS, Sri Lanka Army and donors who come forward to assist us in numerous ways. We are looking forward for more help from potential donors who are willing to support this programme in the future. The first step I can say was a huge success,” Karunaratne added.