"Friends of Rugby" to the rescue

“FRIENDS OF RUGBY” INTRODUCES RUGBY LEAGUE PLAY-OFF

“Friends of Rugby” are making a comprehensive arrangement to extend their much talked about & most successful Lagos Rugby Union League to other parts of the country and thus will have a National Rugby Union League Play-Off in their 2011 Rugby Season program of activities.

According to the scribe of the group popularly called “Mr. Rugby” Mr. Ntiense O. Williams, “Friends of Rugby” have been inundated with calls from Rugby Stakeholders from other parts of the country to assist them with the organizational techniques, and funding of their Rugby League program to be compared to the most successfully administered Lagos Rugby Union League which is in its fifth year running”

Said he, “The Chairman & board members have being moved with the request and will be magnanimous enough to entertain the request towards encouraging meaningful development of the game in the country”

According to “Mr. Rugby”, “We are happy to assist and will be putting finishing touches to the arrangements with the Northern Rugby League organizers, and the new Rugby League program to be established in the Niger-Delta region in the 2011 Rugby Season to come up with a comprehensive National Rugby Union League program of activities for the 2011 Rugby Season which will culminate in a National Rugby Union League Play-Off at the end of each Leagues”

This is a new innovation by “Friends of Rugby” group to assist all the Rugby Playing Clubs in the country and move the game to the next level in 2011 Rugby Season.

It is expected that there will be 6 Clubs each from the three regional rugby league programs to be played in 2011, and the winners will immerge to the play-off stage at the end of the year to determine the true National Rugby Union League champions in Nigeria!

The group will have its first meeting of the 2011 Rugby Season sometime this week to conclude arrangements and hopefully the leagues will kick-off simultaneously in April 2011.

LAGOS RUGBY CLUB HOST BEECH FIVE-A-SIDE RUGBY TOURNEY

Meanwhile, in a way to unwind the very busy 2010 Rugby Season and get prepared for the coming season, one of the leading Rugby Clusides in the country, Lagos Rugby Football Club brought all clubs in Lagos together to participate in its inaugural Beech Five-A-Side Rugby Tournament which was played at the Bar Beech in Lagos Island on Monday 27 December 2010 from 1pm through to 4pm.

The inaugural edition saw four teams namely, D-Light Rugby, Eshrug Rugby, and St. Michael slogging it out in the hot bar beech sands for the coveted prize money.

According to the organizer and proprietor of Lagos Rugby Football Club Mr. Tunde Akerele, “We decided to have something deferent to relax and unwind after a very busy & most successful 2010 Rugby Season by “Friends of Rugby” by organizing this “Beech Five-A-Side Rugby Tourney forRugby players from across the state. The teams were made up of players from virtually all the rugby playing clubs in Lagos randomly selected by the players themselves to compete in this maiden edition”

Said he, “It was a good physical warm up for the players to round up the 2010 season and get them prepared for the upcoming 2011 Rugby Season which is promising to be very exciting and busy!”

The “All Blacks” named after the New Zealand National Rugby Team carried the day by winning all their three matches of the day and were rewarded with a cash prize of N25, 000. They were followed by D-Light Rugby in second position. They won two matches and lost one and were rewarded with a cash prize of N20, 000. In third position was Eshrug Rugby who won one match and lost two and walked away with a cash prize of N10, 000, while St. Michaels drew a match and lost two and were also rewarded with cash prize of N5, 000 for their effort.

According to one of the organizers, Mr. Bayo Olamutun, “This was a very energy sapping type of Rugby which we need to encourage and use for fitness and endurance training. It was very exciting to see the speed machine players being tackled by the slower players who normally will not have the opportunity on the normal pitch!

RUGBY ACTIVITIES RESUMES NEXT WEEK

Rugby activities will resume across the country with light training, fitness, weights and watching of motivational rugby tapes to bring the players back to their regular training schedule towards the very busy 2011 Rugby Season after the enjoyments of the yuletide.

Young Lions Rugby Football Club training at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos will kick start their training on Tuesday 11 January 2011. All other clubs will follow suite.