Rugby 7’s season kicks-off with Western Province Open 7’s

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With the Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 tournament concluded and the Schools fifteen a side season done an dusted, focus will shift towards the shorter version of the game. The curtain raiser for this season will be the annual Western Province Open 7’s tournament organized by Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU).

The WPRFU will be conducting this 7’s rugby competition for its member clubs on the 27th of May 2017 at Havelock Park from 9 a.m onwards with the finals slated to be played on the same day under lights. All the leading ‘A’ Division Clubs in the Western Province as well as Development Clubs will participate in this event.

Commenting on the relevance of this tournament, President of the WPRFU and former Police & Sri Lanka Prom Forward Hafeez Marso said “This is one of the highlights of our annual event calendar where we bring all member clubs to one venue to take part in a sport that we are all passionate about. While this tournament always dishes out competitive & entertaining rugby, the game is played in excellent spirit. This competition will also be an ideal opportunity for  clubs to tryout & identify new talent, test team combinations; fine tune tactics while gaining valuable 7’s specific game time before the Inter-club 7’s tournaments organized by Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR).”

The teams will be segmented into three categories. One will be the ‘Elite’ segment which will include the main teams of all ‘A’ division clubs, while the second segment will consist of the second & third string teams of the ‘A’ Division clubs. The third and final segment will be the ‘Development’ tournament that will include member clubs that don’t participate in the Top division of SLR competitions. This is done to ensure that there will not be a disparity in the level of competition. Further, a Women’s 7’s competition too will be held on the day.

This tournament will be the forerunner to the 7’s calendar listed out by Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) which includes the Inter Club 7’s tournament, the Mercantile 7’s, Sri Lankan International 7’s and culminates with the Asian 7’s Series.

As the Province with the highest representation in the country both in terms of teams and players, the WPRFU plays a pivotal role in developing, administering and promoting the game of Rugby in the Western Province. The Union conducts its activities under 3 verticals namely Development, Tournaments & Education, thereby supporting the parent body  (SLR) – in their efforts to popularize and improve the standard of the game in the country.