The Background

In 2011, a founding member of the EDF Vientiane Wild Hogs, Mr. Savanxay Xayasone, was lucky enough to travel to play in the Kowloon Tens and to see the Hong Kong 7s due to the generosity of a long-time club sponsor and with the assistance of long-time LRF sponsor, Silver Heritage.  The experience was significant and upon his return, it was suggested that the club should work to get player to both events to not only experience Asia’s biggest rugby weekend, but to put Lao Rugby on the international map in one of Asia’s strongest rugby countries.  2012 is the year that the EDF Wild Hogs are working to support these players to attend both events as representatives of a Lao International Barbarians side.  


The Squad

Fourteen of the sixteen squad members are EDF Wild Hogs players and twelve of them are current Lao PDR international representatives; player profiles are available here.


Fundraising

Attending international events requires a significant financial commitment and the EDF Vientiane Wild Hogs are supporting players to attend through a number of schemes:


  1. -Player Savings; whilst the majority of the squad are students or earning limited salaries, each player has made a savings commitment of 150 USD over 6 months to cover some of their costs and all members are working hard to achieve this goal.

  2. -Put the Hogs to Work; players are offering their services for cleaning, painting or any other manual labour that is needed around Vientiane leading up to the competition.  The service is already proving popular!  Download the brochure here. 

  3. -Merchandise Sales;  the EDF Vientiane Wild Hogs are working hard to sell merchandise to help support the costs of the tour.

  4. -Sponsorship;  the EDF Vientiane Wild Hogs, with the support of the Lao Rugby Federation, are looking for sponsors to support the Lao Nagas team to attend the competitions


The team will be playing under the banner of the Lao Nagas; for more information, please click on the link below!