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Singapore’s all geared up for rugby season

SINGAPORE — The organisers of this year’s local rugby “season” are expecting a stronger turnout when the Super Rugby competition and HSBC Singapore Rugby 7s series return to the National Stadium in the next three months.

The Fiji (left) and Kenya teams after their thrilling final at the National Stadium last year.  Photo: Singapore Sevens Facebook Page

The Fiji (left) and Kenya teams after their thrilling final at the National Stadium last year. Photo: Singapore Sevens Facebook Page

SINGAPORE — The organisers of this year’s local rugby “season” are expecting a stronger turnout when the Super Rugby competition and HSBC Singapore Rugby 7s series return to the National Stadium in the next three months.

Singapore Sports Hub CEO Manu Sawhney and Singapore Rugby Union (SRU) president Low Teo Ping are hopeful of breaching the 80,000 mark for spectators across the two events. This includes a 60,000 target for the 7s, up from the 50,000 last year.

Both spoke to media on Monday afternoon (Feb 27) ahead of the first two Super Rugby matches on March 4 and 25, which will see the HITO-Communications Sunwolves take on the Southern Kings and the Stormers respectively. April will then see the Singapore 7s take place on 15th and 16th, before the Sunwolves’ final match against the Sharks on May 20.

“In 2016, we unveiled the inaugural rugby season at the Sports Hub,” Sawhney said. “We were able to attract close to 80,000 rugby fans, which was a great start for us.

“The optimism (of exceeding 80,000) is based on the wonderful feedback we got last year, where the fans enjoyed not only the sport, but the whole atmosphere.

“This is world-class rugby… I genuinely believe this is a great opportunity to build the rugby fan-base in Singapore. This time, we all feel that it is something we can build on and make it more interactive and better. This will then (eventually) become a part of the Singapore sporting season, where people know the first quarter of the year is when they can watch world class rugby.”

He added that ticket sales were “very healthy” for the Sevens and expected to be “fairly healthy” for the Super Rugby, although he did not provide any figures.

There will be a festive atmosphere surrounding the season, with activities like a tag 7s rugby tournament, a rugby obstacle course, photo booth, various family and kids ticket bundles and platinum seating to offer a more immersive and dynamic experience.

The rugby season also offers SRU the opportunity to help develop the sport locally through outreach programmes, coaching clinics and the various curtain-raisers.

Low pointed out that the National Stadium will host the finals of the South-east Asia 7s men’s and women’s tournaments, along with the Under-14 Schools 7s Series during the Singapore 7s. As for the Super Rugby, the curtain-raisers will feature the SRU Premiership league final, a clash between Singapore and Southeast Asia legends, and the ‘A’ Division final.

the Sunwolves team will also stay a few more days than they did last year to spend time sharing knowledge with local teams and coaches.

“All the curtain-raisers are about local rugby,” he said. “It’s about giving Singaporeans based here a chance to play at an iconic National Stadium.

“It is part and parcel of the whole lead-up and outreach programmes… we are very pleased that we are able to do all these things, it completes the whole value chain of what rugby matches taking place here can achieve for Singapore.

“We are covering every area for everyone to have an opportunity to be part of this whole rugby season.”

 

For ticket information about Super Rugby, go to: http://www.sportshub.com.sg/sportshubtix/Pages/Super-Rugby-2017.aspx

For more information about Singapore 7s, go to: http://www.singapore7s.sg

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