By: M. Shamil Amit

Mar. 1 (Daily Mirror) - The Inter-Schools rugby season will begin with the Zahira College Centenary Rugby Sevens Saturday (2) and Sunday at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo.

The tournament is held in collaboration with the celebrations of 100 years of rugby at Zahira and will see the participation of 16 teams which includes the eight teams that are playing in the Division ‘A’ segment of the Inter-Schools Rugby Tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association.

The reigning schools rugby champions St. Peter’s College and the runners-up are slotted along with Kingswood College and Mahanama Colombo in Group ‘D’.

The hosts Zahira College along with Dharmaraja College, S. Thomas’ College and St. Aloysius’ College, Galle are in Group ‘A’.

Royal College, Sri Sumangala College, Kandy, St. Joseph’s College and Lumbini MV are in Group ‘B’ while Trinity College, D. S. Senanayake College, Wesley College and Maliyadeva College Kurunegala are in Group ‘C’.

Joining hands to support the Zahira Rugby Sevens Tournament are Diamond Milk with a sponsorship of Rs. 2.5m, Moose Clothing, Ride Energy Drink, Dasa Group, G&Z Bio Science, Frosty American Water and Sling Mobility.

The Cup champions will be presented with a cash award of Rs. 1m, runners-up will receive Rs. 500,000 and the second runner-up will receive a cash award of Rs. 200,000.

The Plate, Bowl and Shield champions will receive Rs. 50,000 each and the runners-up of the three categories will receive Rs. 25,000 each.

In addition, the best player of the tournament and the best try will receive Rs. 50,000 each and the player of the tournament will receive an electric bike by courtesy of Sling Mobility.

Apart from this tournament the organisers have made arrangements to conduct a Women’s Sevens Tournament to be played on Sunday which will be contested by four teams namely Air Force SC, Navy SC, Army SC and the fourth team would most probably be the CR and FC.