All Blacks Quartet Sign Up for Chartis Cup in Hong Kong

Four All Blacks have been added to the star-studded BGC APBs line-up for their eagerly awaited Chartis Cup clash with English Premiership champions Saracens.

Exciting winger Sitiveni Sivivatu will team up with back-row icon Jerry Collins, lock Troy Flavell and prop Neemia Tialata. The quartet join an awesome BGC APBs squad that already includes 100-cap All Blacks great Mils Muliaina, flying Fijian Sireli Bobo and Samoan brothers Alesana and Henry Tuilagi.

The Chartis Cup, which is supported by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, will be played on Saturday, 9 June 2012 at Hong Kong Stadium.

“With an APBs squad containing five All Blacks, plus a host of other great players from the Asia Pacific region, taking on a world class team like Saracens, it promises to be a fantastic game of rugby,” said Les Mouat, Chairman and Head of Distribution, Chartis Insurance Asia-Pacific. “The APBs squad is taking shape nicely and to see players of the calibre of Sitiveni Sivivatu, Jerry Collins and Mils Muliaina will be a treat for the fans based in Hong Kong and those who fly in from overseas.”

A unique feature of the Chartis Cup is that organisers are offering rugby clubs in Hong Kong and overseas a “cash back” incentive to sell tickets.

For every adult ticket sold by a club before 14 April 2012, the club will retain HK$100 per ticket. Adult tickets are HK$300 each and a child ticket is HK$50.

“We want to offer rugby clubs throughout the region the opportunity to benefit from this match and many of them have shown great interest in this,” said Chartis Cup promoter and APBs chairman Jon Phelps.

The Chartis Cup showdown will be the centrepiece of a day-long rugby festival that will feature mini and veterans tournaments and a Rugby Village next to Hong Kong Stadium where fans can watch the day’s international matches live on big screens later in the evening.

Sivivatu holds the All Blacks record for most tries on a test debut, having touched down four times against Fiji in 2005 on his way to totalling 29 in 45 tests.

Blindside flanker Collins, one of the most fearsome tacklers ever to play the game, appeared in 48 tests from 2001-07, including three as captain. Flavell, meanwhile, played 22 tests for New Zealand while Tialata was capped 43 times.

The BGC APBs will return to Hong Kong for the high-profile fixture having already made a major impact in the territory with their Cup triumph at last week’s GFI HKFC Tens. BGC have confirmed they are extending their sponsorship of the team to include the Chartis Cup match.

Saracens, meanwhile, are enjoying another high-flying season – they are currently second in the English Premiership and are the only English club through to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Proceeds from the Chartis Cup will go towards the Royal Project office in Thailand, under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, to renovate schools hit by flooding last year and help students from very poor families with the expense of attending classes.

See also: 74 High Resolution Pictures from the action at the Chartis Cup 2012.

Chartis Cup 2012 - Interview with Chartis Asia Pacific Chairman, Mr Les Mouat

See more: Videos

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