Serendib International Cup
 |
|
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host nation |
 Sri Lanka
|
| Venue | Colombo Racecourse |
| Date | 26 Oct – 1 Nov 2013 |
| Countries |
 Madagascar Poland Sri Lanka
|
| No. of nations | 3 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
Madagascar
|
| Runner-up |
Sri Lanka
|
| Third place |
Poland
|
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 3 |
| Tries scored | 13 (4.33 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Riza Mubarak (28) |
| Most tries |
Bernard Razafindranaivo (3) |
The Serendib International Cup (known as the Dialog Serendib International Cup for sponsorship reasons) was an international rugby union competition for emerging nations held in Sri Lanka in 2013 (Serendib is the old Arabic, Persian and Urdu name for Sri Lanka). The Seredib Cup was contested by the hosts Sri Lanka and the Malagasy and Polish national rugby teams. The tournament was backed by the International Rugby Board and was played over three match days in Colombo between 26 October and 1 November, coinciding with the 2013 end-of-year rugby union tests.
The tournament served as a pan-regional competition in Asia that will further the profile of Asian rugby and international rugby in Sri Lanka, as the region prepares to host the Rugby World Cup for the first time in 2019 in Japan. The tournament also provided an invaluable platform to step up in performance and ranking for all three Unions as well as the opportunity for the emerging nations to play internationals matches outside of their own region.
The competition was set bring together thriving Unions that are experiencing unprecedented growth, participation and interest in the sport. Its future plans are to make it into a second tier World Cup, which is set to expand to 16-24 teams in the years to come. It will be the launch of a new era in Sri Lankan Rugby as the country is becoming a leading contender in Asia.
The competition was won by Madagascar following their 17-12 victory over the hosts on Day 1, and their 25-21 victory over Poland on Day 2.
The three participating unions are high performance emerging nations with the sport having an ever growing presence. The competition comes as all three unions are still in the process for qualifying for a place in the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The national sport in Madagascar, Test matches regularly attract 40,000 capacity crowds against others high performers of the region such as Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Madagascar is two wins away from qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup placing third in the 2013 Africa Cup. Poland is a highly competitive FIRA-AER Union currently placing third in the 2012–14 European Nations Cup First Division B.
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