Some of the biggest names from the world of rugby were present at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai on Saturday, June 14 for the launch of the inaugural season of the Rugby Premier League. The league gets underway on Sunday, June 15.
The league backed by the GMR group, will see six teams compete for the top honours. Present at the occasion was CEO of GMR Sports Satyam Trivedi and Rugby India President Rahul Bose. The two men were joined by the owners of the six franchises, the coaches and the players who will seen in action.
The six teams vying to be crowned as the champions of the GMR Rugby Premier League 2025 are:
Bengaluru Bravehearts, Chennai Bulls, Delhi Redz, Hyderabad Heroes, Kalinga Black Tigers, and Mumbai Dreamers.
“This league has it all to make it big and successful in India. It is both a great broadcast product and a great on-ground property and we are very proud of this partnership with Rugby India.” said Satyam Trivedi while addressing members of the media.
Rahul Bose said: “ It is truly incredible what we have managed to do here. We have big names from all over the world of rugby playing together as teammates. Looking forward to the high octane action we are about to witness over the next few days.”
Also Read: Rugby Legend Tomasi Cama Embraces Indian Challenge As GMR Rugby Premier League Kicks Off
Format:
The matches of the Rugby Premier League will be played in Rugby Sevens format. This is a version of rugby where each team consists of seven players instead of fifteen. However, the ground dimension remains the same.
While the 15-player rugby matches is played for 80 minutes (two halves of forty minutes each), the rugby sevens matches are much shorter. These matches will have four quarters of four minutes each with a two-minute gap between each quarter. So one match should get over in under 30 minutes.
This format of rugby, according to Satyam, is best for consuming the sport across TV and digital medium, and also easy for people to follow in an age when the attention span in declining.
During the tournament every team will play against every other team twice in a round-robin format. The top four teams after all the round-robin format matches are done will qualify for the semi-finals. There will be two semi-finals and the final and also a third-place play-off match. So in total there will be 34 matches.
Players and the coaches:
To lure people into watching RPL, Rugby India has brought in some of the best rugby talents from around the globe. Introducing them at the inaugural press conference Rahul Bose called the players and the coaches “Rugby Royalty”. According to ESPN World Rugby has assured Rugby Premier League an exclusive window of 15 days every year in order to get the best of the players play in the league. In this window there will be no rugby sevens matches played anywhere in the world.
Rugby Premier League 2025 teams, squads and coaches
Delhi Redz:
Squad:
Matteo Graziano, Michael Coverdale, Raj Kumar, Moritz Noll, Matias Osadczuk, Alejandro Laforga, Deepak Punia, Sunil Chawan, Mohit, Rajdeep Saha, Patrick Okongo, Jordan Conroy;
Coach:
Tomasi Cama
Hyderabad Heroes
Squad:
Manuel Asensi, Sambit Pradhan, Terio Veilawa, Max Roddick, Prince Khatri, Javed Hussein, Sukumar Hembrom, Sumit Roy, Joji Nasova;
Coach:
DJ Forbes
Kalinga Black Tigers:
Squad:
Kyle Tremblay, Harry McNulty, Deepraj Rajabhosale, Ethan Turner, Rosko Specman, James Thiel, Maurice Longbottom, Asis Sabar, Arjun Mahato, Ajay Deswal, Pardeep Singh, Lucas Lacamp, Perry Baker;
Coach:
Mike Friday
Chennai Bulls:
Squad:
Nikias Lohe, Muhammed Ep, Vinay A, Akhil Anand, Joaquin Pellandini, Filipe Sauturaga, Joseva Talacolo, Terry Kennedy, Alexander Davis, Vallabh Patil, Shanawaz Ahmed; Coach: Ben Gollings
Mumbai Dreamers: Aaron Cummings, Elias Hancock, Rhys James, Neeraj, Devendra Padir, Nayan K, Waisea Nacuqu, Briar Barron, Henry Hutchison, James Turner, Ganesh Majhi, Akash Balmiki;
Coach: Tim Walsh
Bengaluru Bravehearts:
Squad:
Tone Shiu, Scott Curry, Suresh Kumar, Iowane Teba, Mak Chung, Akuila Rokolisoa, Liam Poulton, Mohit Khatri, Karan Rajbhar, Arpan Chhetri, Prashant Singh, Pol Pla;
Coach:
Francisco Hernandez
Prakhar Sachdeo
The Sportz Planet
