They Said It Couldn’t Be Done, So He Built the Asia Pacific Lions

A packed stadium, free entry, a brand-new team built across borders, and a cold email that ends with Northampton Saints landing in Colombo. We talk with Saabir Cader, the founder behind the Asian Pacific Lions, about how Sri Lanka rugby became the perfect home for a world-class showcase and why belief matters more than permission when you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist yet. If you care about rugby culture, sports leadership, and what it takes to create opportunity, this story hits hard. 

We dig into the side of Sri Lanka that many rugby fans never see: a school rugby ecosystem drawing thousands of supporters, a proud 147-year rugby history, and a national culture that unites through adversity. Then we get honest about the bottleneck after schoolboy rugby, where huge participation doesn’t automatically become club rugby, professional pathways, or high performance systems. Saabir shares what changed after COVID, how corporate backing affects player development, and why smarter structures are essential for Asian rugby and Pacific rugby to keep more talent in the game. 

From there, it’s the nuts and bolts of making a major event happen: securing sponsors, earning trust without a track record, assembling players from Japan, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond, and building a team culture in weeks. We also talk about bringing in legends like David Campese, what World Rugby could do differently to support developing rugby nations, and Saabir’s long-term plan to connect education with elite rugby opportunities so even one young player can break through. 

If you enjoyed this, subscribe to Coaching Culture, share this with a rugby mate, and leave a review so more people can find stories about building the game the right way. What part of Saabir’s approach would you copy first?

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