Sri Lankan rugby fans will get an opportunity to witness an All Black team perform in Sri Lanka next month. The last time an All Black team, a rugby team from New Zealand, played in Sri Lanka was way back in 1907 and knowing how well they played rugby all Sri Lankans will be eagerly awaiting to witness them play here.
However, this rugby team from New Zealand is made up of players who weight under 85 kilos each player and should be interesting to witness how well the Sri Lankans will ‘tackle’ them. They will be lighter that their original players who are all more than a hundred kilos in weight and are unstoppable when on the run.
This will also give the local fans an opportunity to witness them doing the Maori war dance of the Haka that will be on show during their two matches, one in Kandy on May 4 and the other in Colombo on May 10.
The person who made it happen is former Trinity, CR & FC and Kandy SC winger Imthie Marikkar who was visiting New Zealand last year. He was at the residence of World Cup winning All Blacks coach Graham Henry along with former Sri Lanka Rugby president Asanga Seneviratne.
Without a rugby working body functioning in Sri Lanka Seneviratne who holds the chairmanship of Competions and High Performance at Asia Rugby, could not imagine Marikkar was doing the right thing.
“Marikkar called me saying that he is at the residence of Graham Henry and said that it was possible for a New Zealand team to visit us at a time Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) is in chaos, no administration in place, country defaulting and the economy in a serious downturn,” said Seneviratne at the launch of the New Zealand tour to Sri Lanka on Wednesday (2).
Seneviratne along with Priyantha Ekanayake, the chairman of the National Sports Council, cleared any potential disruptive factors with the intervention of the Minister of Sports Sunil Gamage.
According to Seneviratne the visit of the New Zealanders, the first since 1907, will cost a whopping Rs. 60 million that will be covered by four major sponsors including the principal sponsor Dialog Axiata.
For the tour, Sri Lanka Tuskers will field an open-weight team, with one important exception: all Sri Lankan prop forwards must weight below 105 kg. This restriction will be implemented as a safety measure, ensuring the well-being of all participants whilst maintaining competitive integrity.
The experience gained from these matches will undoubtedly contribute to the development of rugby in Sri Lanka, providing local players with insights into world-class techniques, stretegies and approaches to the game.
The visit of the New Zealand team will also promote a historic tree planting project in central Rambukkana spearheaded by the evergreen ex-Air Force and Sri Lanka Number Eight Nalin de Silva who is now an environmental activist.
Over 1000 trees will be planted and named after All Blacks legends down the years and will come under the care of students of Kegalle Girls College.
