According to unconfirmed reports former Navy SC and Sri Lanka coach, Ronny Ibrahim has been approached by the Indian rugby football union to coach their National team for the upcoming season.
This will be the first time that a Sri Lankan coach will be assigned for an international team. When most of the Nations are scouting for coaches from England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia it is likely that the Indian rugby football union would acquire the services of the Sri Lankan rugby stalwart for the imminent sevens and fifteens tournaments.
Ronny Ibrahim, one of the most esteemed coaches in the Island has been in the forefront of many schools and clubs during the recent past and has been instrumental in turning out some of Sri Lanka’s finest ruggerites.
The former Navy coach stepped down from all forms of coaching last October due to personal reasons, however vowed to come back in to coaching during the next few years.
Rugby Union in India dates back to a scratch match or two played in Kolkata and Madras during the visit of MS Galatea in 1871. The first recorded match was played on Christmas Day 1872, at CFC in Kolkata, it was played between England and a combined team of Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
In 1968 the India Rugby Football Union was founded and in 1999 the IFRU gained association from the International Rugby Board.
They are ranked sixty-fifth in the world by the International Rugby Board. This is the team’s highest ranking ever. India is currently Division 3 champion of Asian 5 Nations.
The Indian national rugby union team was admitted to the IRB in 2001, but it took three years before India managed to win a match, beating Pakistan 56-3 in the third tier competition of the Asian Biennial tournament.
