The Western Province Rugby Football union inter club open rugby sevens tournament will get under this weekend in Colombo.
24 teams are scheduled to take part in the tournament with 8 teams vying for hounors in the main segment (Cup/Plate) while 16 teams will battle it out for the Bowl and Shield segments.
Speaking at the press conference held today at the CR&FC the president of the Western Province Rugby football Union Rizly Illyaz said, “We want to have this tournament every month so that we have a good build up going in to the international tournaments. This is the first leg of a series of tournaments which we have planned for next year. We want to give the opportunity for the tier two players to participate and unearth some solid players”, said Illyaz.
Army, Navy and Air Force will field 2 teams each in the cup and plate segment while Peterson’s SC and Carlton SC will make up the eight teams.
The Bowl and Shield segment will have 16 teams who have been put in 4 groups.
Dilroy Fernando the secretary of the WPRFU speaking at the press conference said, “The main objective of organizing a tournament of this nature is to give players from the rural areas the opportunity to play in the big stage.
Teams from Ratnapura, Gampaha and Kalani Valley will be taking part in this competition which will give them the needed exposure. We will also be implying some of the new IRB rules so that players can get accustomed to the changing nature of the game” ended Fernando.
The tournament is sponsored by Asian Finance and the President of the WPRFU Rizly Illyaz made a special mention to them for coming out and financing this tournament.
Addressing the media Sarath Dalugala the representative of Asian Finance said, “We are proud to be a part of this tournament and we are greatful for the WPRFU for giving us the opportunity. Rugby was always played in the metropolitan area and we are proud to be a part of a tournament which takes rugby to the outskirts”.
The cup winners will received a cash prize of 100,000 together with the awards.
The tournament will kick off on Saturday 1st December at both CR&FC and the Royal College sports Complex. The games at CR will commence at 10am and will host the cup and plate teams while the RC Complex will host the bowl and shield teams and will start at 9am.
