Police, Army, CH and Havelocks can play foreigners

The four clubs which were relegated to the Plate Championship of the Caltex ‘A’ Division League in the second round last year will be allowed to play foreigners in the 2011 rugby season. Fifth placed Police, Army who finished sixth, seventh placed CH and FC and Havelocks which finished last have been given permission by the council of the SLRFU to play two foreigners each - a forward and a three quarter in 2011.

The presence of foreigners this year will ensure a level playing field, said the Secretary of the SLRFU Shane Dullawe. rugby fans will get an opportunity of seeing foreigners in action in Sri Lanka’s domestic rugby tournaments after seven years which should be a tremendous boost for rugby. The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union has also picked a 63-member pool in preparation for the Asian Five Nations Tournament which begins in April.

The Sri Lanka 15-side pool:

PROPS: Terrence Henry, Kishore Jehan, Eranga Swarnatilleke, Jayantha Ranaweera, Suranga Swarnatilleke, Madusha Padmaperuma, Steve Nelson, Sathya Ranatunge, Kasun Yasaisuru.

HOOKERS: Bilal Hassen, Achala Perera, Uchitha Jayasuriya, Anjula de Silva.

LOCK FORWARDS: Senaka Bandara, Shehan Dimitri, Ishan Noor, Dinesh Sanjeeva, Shenal Dias, Kalana Amarasinghe, Sumedha Malawana.

FLANKERS: Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Ashen Karthelis, Danushka Perera, Sean Wijesinghe, Roshenka Kodituwakku, Kasun de Silva, Shehan Muthutantri.

Number EIGHT: Shehan Pathirana, Kavinda Jayasena, Sajith Saranga, Keith Gurusinghe, Dushantha Lewke, Namal Rajapaksa.

SCRUM HALVES: S Sooriyabandara, R Weeraratne, P Chathuranga, S Pushpakumara, B Nanayakkara.

FLY HALVES: Fazil Marija, Dev Anand, Chanaka Chandimal, Nigel Ratwatte.

CENTRES: Gayan Weeraratne, Shabhir Mohamed, Anuruddha Wilwara, C Withanage, D Etipola, Charith Seneviratne, C Susantha, L de Costa.

WINGERS: Samantha Lakshan, Saliya Handapangoda, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, M Sheriff, M Jabbar, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Prabath Jayalath, Dinusha Chathuranga.

FULL BACKS: Saliya Kumara, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Reza Mubarak, R Sansoni.