Scrums down with Upcountry Lions at Nittawela today:

Tough task for Kandy SC

by S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN Kandy Sports Corr.

RUGBY: It is going to be sizzling rugby at which no quarter will be asked and none given when the defending League Champions Kandy Sports Club take on the challenging newcomers Upcountry Lions in their Dialog League Rugby Tournament match to be played at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy, today - June 10th with the kick off at 4.30 pm.

Little is known about the Upcountry Lions, but they will be fielding a star-studded side and is expected to field Trinity College and Kandy Sports flanker Dilip Selvam. They are also expected to have in their fold top players like Radhika Hettiarachchi, Nigel Ratwatte and many others.

They have been practising hard at Nawalapitiya and in a 'captain's' game played at Pallekele, they beat the Sri Lanka Army quite comfortably.

They are being coached by former Trinity College, CR & FC and Kandy Sports Club Winger Imthie Marikkar with another former Kandy SC stalwart D. Sivasubramaniam as Manager.

The Upcountry Lions are expected to field in this match former All Blacks Sevens player Lote Raikabula as one of their foreign players.

They will also have two other foreigners in No.8 Mathew Ropetti and centre Kurt Hayden both from New Zealand. Hayden will be also entrusted with the task of taking the spot kicks and has been a 'maestro' at it in his country.

Both clubs are delaying the naming their teams. The Senior Vice President of Kandy Sports Club Leslie de Zoysa said that the tickets to the grandstand priced at Rs.300 will be available for sale today (Sunday) from 8.30 am onwards and the other tickets will be available as usual at the gates.

He also said that there has been an order for a block 500 tickets and arrangements have been made to allocate a separate enclosure for them.