- Passionate crowds and steaming heat
The New Zealand Under-85kg rugby team undertook a historic two-match tour of Sri Lanka this month. This marked the inaugural tour of a New Zealand national Under-85kg team where they took on the Tuskers.
Background and significance
The tour aimed to build on the importance of weight-restricted rugby in New Zealand and promote it in a developing rugby nation like Sri Lanka. A trophy named after the world cup-winning coach and team patron Sir Graham Henry, was awarded to the winner of the two-match series. The New Zealand team received an incredibly warm welcome in Sri Lanka, with large crowds, media attention, and significant public interest. Players were surprised by the level of rugby enthusiasm in the country.
The first match was held at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium in Kandy, the visitors won 50-10. Despite being the first official New Zealand U85kg national side, the team displayed significant experience, with many players having featured in New Zealand’s National Club Cup Final.
The second and final match of the tour took place at a sold-out Colombo Racecourse. Sri Lanka showed an improved performance compared to the first match. The game was tight in the opening stages, with both teams displaying strong defence.
Sri Lanka managed to score two penalty goals through Tarinda Ratwatte but struggled to consistently threaten the New Zealand defence. Despite the warmer conditions in Colombo, which led to some New Zealand players experiencing heat exhaustion, they maintained their composure. New Zealand ultimately won the second match 32-6, completing a historic clean sweep of the two-match series.
Passion for rugby in SL
The tour highlighted the immense passion and enthusiasm for rugby in Sri Lanka, with large and supportive crowds.
The New Zealand players had to adapt to the hot and humid conditions in Sri Lanka, which proved physically demanding. Despite the scorelines, there was a sense of respect between the two teams, with New Zealand acknowledging Sri Lanka’s efforts, particularly in the second match. The tour was described as an ‘incredible’ and ‘crazy’ experience for the New Zealand players, who were touched by the friendliness and engagement of the Sri Lankan people.
Off the field, it was a culturally enriching experience for the players, exposing them to the passionate rugby fanbase and warm hospitality in Sri Lanka. The tour also served to promote weight-grade rugby on an international stage.
Below are some of the key pointers and comments made by the visiting New Zealand U85kg team players.
Tyler Koning (forward): The practice sessions in both Kandy and Colombo were hugely important for us as a team. As you know, we’ve only been together for a really short period, so the more repetitions we can get in our game, the better.
As you saw, it was really physical. We want a real hard fight, we want to get the physicality in there, because that’s what we want to bring to our game. So we are super excited about that and to tour this beautiful island nation.
So yeah, as you saw, this was an important hit out in preparation for our future as a team. We cannot wait for our next hurdle.
Talking about the country, the people have been so welcoming and hospitable to us, and we couldn’t wait to just put on a show for everyone. It’s just amazing to come up against the Sri Lankan national team, the Tuskers. We’ve heard so much about them and this country loves rugby so much, so we just want to give back and just wanted to put on a show. And we hope we all did justice.
New Zealand U85kg team Vice captain Josh Gellert: The deputy skipper described the experience in Lanka as “incredible”. He said: “People are coming up to us on the streets, asking for photos and autographs. It’s something that will probably never feel normal for this group of boys.”
“We were warned about how much Sri Lanka loves rugby, but I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what it’s truly like. As soon as we got off the plane, we were getting interviewed, but we loved it,” he added.
Gellert, who usually plays for Auckland University Slug Collectors in front of smaller crowds, said, “We’re the club battlers, so we’re stoked at having the limelight. It’s pretty crazy here. The friendliness is overwhelming and engaging with the locals is special. We have 20 staff form a cordon to greet us every time we leave the hotel. Police escorts to the ground are something I’ve never experienced before. The food and culture are amazing.”
New Zealand U85kg team Captain Jared Percival: After lifting the Sir Graham Henry Trophy (awarded for the first time this year for the winners of the Sri Lanka versus New Zealand U85 kg), he commented on the fans, saying, “The fans were amazing, they cheered for us… It’s an atmosphere we’ve never experienced back home.”
Percival highlighted the challenging heat, stating, “Once again, the U85s had to contend with 30-degree heat, despite the game kicking off at 6 p.m. local time. Several players, including me, were forced from the field with heat exhaustion. I think I was in the ice bath for about 15 minutes before I could even go join the boys on the sideline again. I don’t think it portrays on TV just how tough the conditions are – it was seriously hot.”
Respect for SL rugby
Josh Gellert: Before the second match, knowing Sri Lanka would field a more experienced team, he said: “We’ve identified the changes in their team. A big thing for us is being connected throughout the group, making sure everyone is confident. A big thing for us is proving to the guy next to you why you got picked, so I think that message will be to keep that defensive structure pretty firm.”
Jared Percival: After the second game, acknowledging the improved performance of the Sri Lankan team, he stated: “We knew we were going to be up for a battle.”
Here are some comments made by some of the well known figures in the rugby community.
Point of contact for rugby development in Sri Lanka, Group Captain Nalin de Silva (retd.): I’m very thankful to the High Commission of New Zealand to Sri Lanka and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) for sending their U85kg team here to play against the Sri Lanka Tuskers. We hope our players did well and there’s a lot to learn from this tour and we thank everyone behind the arrangements and organising this grand event as well all the sponsors who came on board to make this a reality as we venture our rugby history into a new era.
World Rugby Coach Educator with New Zealand Rugby Boa Athu: With the New Zealand Under-85 tour, I think it is very successful from a point that it really put Sri Lanka on the wider rugby map and I think New Zealand now understand that Sri Lanka is a huge and untapped market where there’s a big fan base particularly to do anything with a black shirt.
Now the team itself, the 85’s, is largely an experimental emerging representative because it is weight restricted and is more of a category where players struggle to make it an open class or premier grade club rugby.
They play under weight restrictions like in boxing where they have weight classes. So, I think as far as the game and competition goes, this is a very good handicap class for Sri Lanka to play and start because you clearly saw even though these are largely amateur players who have day jobs and who train Tuesday, Thursday nights and come and play weekend rugby, they had exceptionally high skill level and to make things even more admirable, this team had only been together for like a week. And then coming into a very hot humid Sri Lanka, the way they dismantled and outplayed the national side was quite remarkable.
And of course, this clearly shows there is a big difference in the skill set required and I think when it came to fitness we really struggled even though we were the home team playing in favourable conditions.
One of the reasons for that is, if you look at the domestic club competition which was concluded, it was largely a stop-start-stop-start affair and the pace of the game wasn’t intense enough so that the locals could transfer that same form line into much better competition and that was a glaring miss.
So, from a planning point of view, next time, around the next season, there has to be more emphasis on speeding up the game and particularly, the referees really need to make sure that there aren’t unnecessary water breaks or injury breaks and we just get on with it, and of course we have to train in a certain way where we work on our conditioning and fitness pretty much all year round because Sri Lanka squad has almost all fully paid professional club rugby players.
It was the New Zealand side who had amateurs. That’s a glaring miss. The skill levels required, again shows that we have a big hole when it comes to quality skills coaching, the technical coaching. I talk about technical and tactical. It looked like we were woefully short on the technical coaching as well as the tactical aspect.
Some of the tactics we used were pretty abysmal. There is a little bit of work to be done. I know everyone feels really good about it but, I think we have to start getting serious if we want to progress our fifteen’s game at the representative level. I know that sounds a bit difficult to digest, but that’s the reality, that’s just how it is.
Ex-National player Ravi Wijenathan: The New Zealand Under-85s Tour to Sri Lanka was a great success and I feel that it’s going to boost Sri Lankan rugby, especially with the games we played with New Zealand and then before that Malaysia. It’s definitely going to help us to beat at least two teams in the upcoming matches against South Korea, Hong Kong, and the UAE. If we beat two teams then we are through to the Rugby World Cup in 2027.
So, it is important that we learn from the mistakes. With both teams we compare, we were equally very good in the scrums and line-outs. I think we did better in the scrums and line-outs but, however, New Zealand as usual dominated in loose play.
They were quick to pounce on the mistakes that we made and their skills were much greater, passing the ball very quickly down the line and creating space. The structure was great to watch, how they adopted the play and how they created gaps and whenever they created gaps they were unstoppable. Especially they used the width of the game and used basically a punt at the head at the right time to pick up and score and also created gaps in between.
Especially, when they attacked with the forwards, they were able to create space in between so that they could wriggle through and then continue to play and then just a quick pass down the line for the three quarters to score. It was a great experience for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka too played with pace especially in the first match.
Even in the second match, the mistakes were a little too much. That is what created that we had various scoring opportunities which due to the mistakes we weren’t able to capitalise. But, however, there were instances where the New Zealanders also did the same thing but, their mistakes were less and whenever there was a crucial moment they were able to score.
They were able to take that high pass or the low pass and create that gap to score. So overall, it’s a great success and I love to see the spectators coming back because this has boosted the spectators to see some good rugby played by Sri Lanka. So, I think as Sri Lankans we should be proud of the achievement of our boys. Congratulations.
Sportscaster Shanaka Amarasinghe: Even though this was an under-85kg team, it was a New Zealand representative team and probably the first time that any New Zealand representative team has toured Sri Lanka as their sole destination. That was a historic moment for Sri Lanka. For many of the local rugby fans, it would be the closest they’ve come to watching the All Blacks themselves wearing the black jersey with the silver fern on their chest as well.
Even though it is not the All Blacks, it feels like it almost was. For a lot of people who will never get the chance to see the All Blacks play in real life, this was a dream come true for them. To see the ‘haka’ being performed in Nittawela and at the Racecourse was also a huge thing.
For a lot of young rugby fans, a lot of them may grow up and remember this moment for the rest of their lives and it might inspire them to take up the game. It can really impact a new generation of players. There was a wonderful turnout both at Nittawela and the Racecourse.
I think that kind of enthusiasm is something that cannot be replaced or replicated in other parts of Asia. It really showed where Sri Lanka stands in terms of Asian rugby. We really showed the world that we are a viable destination for this kind of exercise.
It was a wonderful experience for everybody concerned, for the New Zealand players who will never forget playing in front of these crowds, and also for the Sri Lankan players who got kind of a rude awakening of what needs to be done before the Asian championship. A lot of things for the administrators, the selectors, the coaches to think about as well. That game was a very productive hit out.
It was good that we probably didn’t win those games because now it shows that we have a lot more work to do and we will get down to that. If we had gotten close or won those games, maybe that work may not have happened in earnest. It’s probably a good thing that the results went the way of the visitors.
To have people like Sir Graham Henry and Sumo Stevenson in Sri Lanka is just a fantastic opportunity for everyone who’s involved in the game just to be in the same room as personalities like that. All in all, I think it was a huge success.
Liaison officer with NZ team Romario de Silva: Honestly, working with the New Zealand Under-85 kg rugby team on this historic Sri Lankan tour has been a truly remarkable experience. Let me tell you, their professionalism is something else. I have been around a few teams, but the level of detail they pay attention to is just...wow. It’s like nothing I've ever seen. Every little thing is considered and handled with such care. And you know what else? Punctuality. They’re never late. Not once. It’s refreshing, to say the least. They’re a disciplined bunch, focused and incredibly organised. It’s been an absolute pleasure being their liaison officer here. This tour is something special, and I’m really impressed with how they conduct themselves.