The National rugby squad began their training yesterday with new coach, South African Ravin Du Plessis at Havelock Park.
Du Plessis was the High Performance coaching consultant to South Africa and UAE under the auspices of Canterbury Rugby High Performance Unit.
He has fifteen years experience and success in senior roles within professional rugby environments in New Zealand and South Africa. He was National coaching coordinator South African Rugby Union – Head Coach Currie Cup Griquas, Leopards and Eagles – Springbok Technical Advisor Rugby World Cup – Assistant Coach Stormers and Blues Super Rugby Teams – Director of Rugby Dubai Exiles RFC – High Performance Coach Canterbury Rugby Union New Zealand – High Performance Manager/Coach Canterbury Rugby Academy, International High Performance Unit – New Zealand Rugby Union Resource Coach.
58 players have been selected and are currently training for the division one tournament which is to get underway in April this year. Navy skipper Yoshitha Rajapakse has been appointed as the captain of the side while National sevens skipper Fazil Marija has been named as his deputy.
Sri Lanka will host the tournament for the first time and will play alongside Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan and Thailand.
For more pictures of the training session click here
