Twenty four schools for under 18 rugby tourney

Anuradha ABEYSEKERA

Nestle Lanka PLC under their brand name ‘Milo’ will continue its sponsorship for the 19th consecutive year to both Division one and two age group rugby championships. This was disclosed to the media during a press conference at the CR and FC pavilion.

The under-18 Division one Inter School 10-A-side tournament will kick off today at the CR and FC grounds where 24 schools will vie for honours. They will compete in eight groups namely A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H in the first round. Being a major supporter of school sports in Sri Lanka, Nestle Lanka PLC will annually sponsor few outstation rugby tournaments as well. Milo will sponsor the under-18 Division II , Under 16 Division I, Under 16 Division II, Under 14 Division II and a Girls rugby tournament which are scheduled to be held in outstations this year.

Reminiscing their 19 years companionship with the Srl Lanka Schools’ Rugby Football Association (SLSRFA) Nestle Lanka Assistant Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communication Bandula Egodage thanked the past SLSRFA officials and extended their support for further development of school rugby.

The SLSRFA Secretary Susantha Mendis explained their programme to introduce rugby to North and East Provinces and said they are working together with the SLRFU in this task.

SLRFU Development Committee Chairman Group Captain Nalin de Silva said that there are 25 school teams and five clubs engaged with girls rugby and SLRFU will support to popularize girls rugby in the country.

The SLSRFA president Ranjith Chandrasekara said that even though the drug tests are not compulsory for the school events SLSRFA will carry out random tests among the school players as well. He further emphasized the importance of formulate school rugby tournament format by reducing matches in order to showcase good rugby. “With the increase of number of matches, the number of injuries have also grown up. It will have a bad impact on the game and we have to take this into serious consideration,” he explained.