Inter University Rugby can be recognized as one of the most popular Rugby arenas in the country as it attracts a massive following.
Even though the University rugby in Sri Lanka is not treated as a source of selections for the national pool, the University of Moratuwa Rugby team redefined the University Rugby in Sri Lanka with their massive effort in 2014 which would have changed the authorities’ attitude towards University Rugby in Sri Lanka.
University of Moratuwa Rugby Team, commonly known as ‘Mora Rugby’ had a dream run in 2014 being the Champions in all 3 formats of the game at Higher Educational Rugby circuit.
They started by winning the Inter-University 15-a-side Rugby Championship competing against the top State Universities. In this tournament no team was able to score a single point against them as they won the 3 knockout matches 72-00, 27-00, 20-00 respectively against Rajarata University, Sabaragamuwa University and University of Peradeniya respectively. The Mora 15-a-side team was captained by Dhanuka Anthony, a product of St. Joseph’s College, one of the few players in the team who have played Rugby at their respective schools. The team was coached by Mr. Tuan Shabeer, former captain of Science College, Mt. Lavinia.
Then Mora Rugby team accepted the challenge of shifting their annual Inter Collegiate Mora Sevens Rugby tournament to the Colombo City for the first time by organizing it at the Havelock SC grounds and attracting many Higher Educational Institutes located in the city, which itself was an uplift of the standards of Sri Lanka University Rugby. After a fantastic Cup Final against the experienced, talented and skillful NIBM Rugby team, Mora Rugby won it 29-00 and emerged Champions of the Inter Collegiate Mora Sevens Rugby Tournament in which they competed against both private and state Universities and Higher Educational Institutes in the country where many Club and National level players participated in.
After succeeding in both 15s and 7s formats, the Mora Rugby team tested their skills in 10s format where despite lack of experience in the format, emerged Champions of the APIIT Sports Extravaganza 10s Rugby Tournament beating their Sevens rivals, NIBM in the Cup finals. The Sevens and Tens teams were captained by the big forward, Saliya Rathnayake, a product of Maliyadeva College, who has also played Rugby at school. With this victory, the Mora Rugby Team reached their best achievements in their long history by becoming the Triple Champions within a calendar year.
After revolutionizing the University Rugby arena, Mora Rugby team is looking forward to reach higher standards in 2015 and it could be said that they have benchmarked the Level of University Rugby in Sri Lanka for others to follow. Already there are signs of University Rugby becoming a strong force in the Sri Lanka Rugby circuit.
