dubai For the Sri Lankan expatriates in the UAE, the annual inter-school touch rugby tournament is one of the most important events they look forward to in the sporting calendar.
It brings together all the old boys of top rugby playing schools in Sri Lanka to the battlefield where they fight for the top honours. This year the 11th Lanka Lions Inter-School Tag Rugby Sevens for the Roger Rodrigo Challenge Cup will be held on October 23 at the Sharjah Wanderers Club.
Getting stronger
Each year the interest has been growing. This year is no different as the number of participating schools has increased to 24 teams from 21 schools as compared to 18 teams last year.
“The inter-school tournament is getting stronger and stronger,” said Roger Rodrigo, sports secretary of Lanka Lions who is a former Sri Lankan and Arabian Gulf player. “We have three more schools joining in which is good. The boys are looking forward to the tournament and have been practising for the last two months,” he added.
Trinity are the defending champions of the tournament.
However, the main objective of this tournament is to help Lanka Lions unearth fresh talent for the Dubai Sevens. Lanka Lions are the only Asian team to participate in the Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens in the social segment since the early 80s.
“The idea of this tournament when I started 11 years back was to improve the rugby of Lanka Lions and bring in more players. That’s why we started this inter-school rugby tournament,” explained Rodrigo who represented Lanka Lions since 1989.
“So two years ago, we brought a ruling that each team can bring one player from Sri Lanka so we can improve and bring fresh blood to the side because players were getting old here,” said Rodrigo.
“But the schools are bringing in players just to play the tournament and go. I want them to stay permanently. When the school brings a player, we hope they can find him a job and keep him back for Lanka Lions. That’s the main idea and we are working on that aspect,” said Rodrigo.
