2nd annual All Indian National 15-a-side under sixteen Rugby Tournament

Bubaneshwar, Orissa state, April 2010.

On the 30th April 2010 23 boys, 2 members of staff and 2 volunteers set off from Rowland Road for Howrah station, headed for the overnight train to Bubaneshwar in Orissa state, and the 2nd annual All Indian national 15 a side under sixteen rugby tournament.

The tournament is hosted and supported by KIIT University and the Kalinga Institute Of Social Sciences (KISS), a residential home and school for over 10,000 tribal children from the state of Orissa., and saw teams arrive from Bangalore, Kerala, Mumbai Rhino’s, Delhi, UP, Jaipur, Future Hope, Jungle Crows Kolkata, Bubaneshwar, KISS, Young Rugby Club Kolkata, Frank Anthony Public School, Mumbai Magicians, Tripura, Karnataka, Jammu Kashmir.

Future Hope Harlequins attack Mumbai Rhinos.

The boys and staff were put up in excellent hostel accommodation by the staff of KIIT University, and awoke on Saturday morning to the news that our 1st game, scheduled to be against Jammu Kashmir, was declared a bye after a no show from the visiting team, leaving the Future Hope Harlequins with 2 days to prepare for our next game against the highly fancied, and huge, Mumbai Rhinos team on Tuesday.

The following 2 days followed a similar pattern of rising very early to watch the 1st games that kicked off at 7am, and then retiring to the hostel to escape the midday heat, followed by late afternoon training.  Orissa is very hot and the ground very hard in April.

Tuesday soon arrived and after a last minute ground staff hiccup, where the sprinklers were left on, water logging the pitch in the height of summer and 45 degree heat, the game kicked off on time, and Future Hope faced a physically intimidating and large Rhinos team.

Through brave and relentless defence, some great penalty kicking under pressure and a well taken opportunist try, Future Hope eventually ran out winners 8-0, taking the wind out of the pumped up Rhinos team. It was a great and very brave win, showing that fearless tackling, commitment and working as a team can overcome any size disadvantages on the pitch.

The win took us into the semi finals against local rivals and great friends, the Kolkata Jungle Crows, made up largely of boys from the Ashalayum NGO in Kolkata, and run by Paul Walsh, long time Future Hope friend and member of staff.

Samir out jumps the Jungle Crows

The 2 teams had supported each other all tournament and roomed next door to each other, which somehow served to increase the tension on the pitch. Shounak Lahiri and Tim Grandage, fresh from a 9 hour drive down to Orissa in the green jeep turned up just in time to cheer on the lads. The result was a forwards and defence dominated game, in a classic semi final style, where Future Hope’s excellent penalty kicking and a great back row try led to a 16-0 victory for the Quins. The game was tougher than the score line suggests, and the result wasn’t certain until the last few minutes, but a great win nevertheless. (Spare a thought too for the Crows player injured by an over-protective cow on the road the day before the game!).

Friday saw the final against the highly fancied reigning champions, KISS, and a large crowd of over 2,000 KISS kids arrived to cheer on the hosts!

Future Hope were superb throughout, combining disciplined and brave defence with some incisive and speedy running from the backs, and a great counter attacking try from the full back Bokul, as well as a coolly taken penalty by Karim, saw Future Hope silence the partisan crowd and run out 10-0 winners to become champions of India for the 1st time, a great and well deserved honour.

Special mention must go to the hosts, KIIT University and KISS, for putting on and supporting the competition, and for the hospitality and organisation shown in running such an event. The pitch is the 1st purpose built rugby pitch made in India, and this tournament will help the development of rugby throughout India immensely. This can be seen by the number of teams attending from all corners of India.

The cup was presented by Mr. A U Singh Deo, Minister for Planning and Coordination and Public Enterprise of the Government of Orissa who himself played rugby for La Martiniere Luck now.

The Future Hope Harlequins pose for the press with the Cup alongside senior members of the Government of Orissa, and Bengal and Orissa RFU officials.

Congratulations to all the boys, members of staff and volunteers who have worked hard this season to make the team such a success.   

By Mark Lewis, Director Homes.