Lions to roar louder this time
View(s):Impressive Upcountry Lions who made their debut as a top division rugby club last season, has appointed former Sri Lanka Sevens skipper Srinath Sooriyabandara as their captain for the upcoming season. Their remarkable kick-start according to Upcountry Lions manager Hassan Singhawansa has managed astound their sponsors Crysbro who had agreed to extend their sponsorship by another two years.
“As a new rugby club, we can proudly say that our standard of playing was quite pleasing, considering the fact that the players were competing in their first season as a unit. We have obtained the services of some well seasoned players as well as some top performers from the international scene. For the
At the Sri Lanka Rugby Awards Night 2012, Upcountry Lions were awarded as the most promising team. - File pic
upcoming season all of them will remain at Upcountry Lions and most possibly there will be some new faces too,” Singhawansa revealed.
At the Sri Lanka Rugby Awards Night 2012, Upcountry Lions were awarded as the most promising team while their coach Imthi Marikkar was named as the best coach of the season. They played 11 games and won four of them while the seven defeats were narrow shaves finishing as fourth in the league. From the Upcountry Lions camp, three players have played for Sri Lanka at the Asian5Nation Tournament while five played for the Sri Lanka Sevens side which competed in the Asian and World Sevens Series in 2012. In addition 17 of their members were drafted into the lucrative Carlton International 7s tournament.
“We will work more seriously to enhance the brand of rugby we play. We are also planning on innovative things which will be experimented in time to come. In the upcoming season we are planning to recruit some ITM Cup players from New Zealand. Our aim next season is to do better than the concluded season, so our management as sponsors will be pleased,” he added.The Upcountry Lions rugby club was launched on January 3, under the patronage of Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
Among the players at the inception were Desmond Wilson, Dilanka Gunathilake, Malith Hettiarachchi, Sandun Kumara, Rukshan Fernando, Uchitha Jayasooriya, Sharo Fernando, Rajitha Abeykoon, Ranga Perera, Sasanka Ariyaratne, Gayan Ratnage, Dilip Selvam, Matt Time, Sajith Saranga, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Dilan Soyza, Nigel Ratwatte, Kanchana Ramanayake, Hayden Magele, Niroshan Karunanayake, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Migara Wijeratne, Fazly Rajabdeen, Vishvamithra Jayasinghe, Sashan Mohamed, Ashan Gallage, Chanaka Gunaratne, Rajitha Sansoni and foreign players Tevita Taufui and Teniage Tokakese. – NA
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