Boa and Niranjan fly high in New Zealand

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Manukau Rovers Rugby Football Club in Auckland, New Zealand, one of the oldest and foremost rugby clubs competing for the Gallagher premiership, has appointed former Royalist Boa Athu and Trinitian Niranjan Ranasinghe to its premier coaching staff for the 2020 rugby season.

Athu is an old Royalist who played club rugby for CH&FC while Ranasinghe was a cracking second row who represented Kandy SC following the completion of his schooling. Athu will serve in the position of Technical Director while Ranasinghe will be the Assistant Coach of the outfit. 

The Gallagher Shield functions as the selection pathway for players knocking on the door of the Auckland Mitre10 outfit and the Blues in Super Rugby. 

Boa played for the Royal College (1996-98) team which toured England and Wales. He made his club debut for CH in 1996 while still a schoolboy. CH won the league in 2000 which saw Boa also touring New Zealand after clinching the Caltex Rugby League. Meanwhile, Ranasinghe played for Trinity from 1999-2000. During his final year in 2000, Trinity won the Bradby. He made his club debut a year later with a Kandy outfit which emerged triple champions in 2001. He played for three more years before migrating to New Zealand. He played for the national team from 2002-2003. In 2006 and 2007 Ranasinghe played for Otago University in Dunedin, finishing his playing career at the Sumner Rugby Football Club in Christchurch in 2008 before taking up a career in coaching.