Team selections

The much anticipated Lions squad was announced and as with any such announcement the various pundits have expressed their views. The English skipper does not find a place in the squad and the selection of Sam Warburton as Lions’ skipper raised many an eyebrow. One can see Warren Gatland’s point of view in this scenario as he is bound to go with the tried and tested Welsh skipper who did him proud in the last World Cup. As one pundit remarked ‘Gatland’s 37-man party contains a balance of experienced old hands, talented young thrusters and players with the required ‘X factor’ to provide something a little bit different’.

In many ways it is similar to recruitments and promotions in the corporate world. It is always easy to promote the person from within as opposed to taking a chance on a rank outsider. Whilst this is a hot and controversial topic, my take is that you need to give a leader a team of his choice to produce results. If we are to tinker with all of the team members and then hold the skipper and manager responsible for results, it’s a tad unfair.

HR pundits will argue, rant and rave on the merits of infusion of new blood, fresh thinking and at times thinking out of the box. The issue of thinking out of the box is that on many occasions everybody is thinking out of the box, and have eventually forgotten what the box looks like and nothing tangible materialises. Even in the corporate world at times despite what the statistics may say, one relies on ‘gut feel’ in certain selections. More often than not, they pay off, but when they do not, there will always be that group of pessimists who say “I told you so”.

This weekend will see the working off of the SLRFU sponsored Inter-club Rugby Sevens to be worked off at the Havies Sports Club grounds. With the current searing heat and high humidity, the fitness levels of the players will be put to the test. The games are bound to attract a lot of spectators with a carnival-like atmosphere prevailing with plenty of food stalls and ale to quench the thirst. This, spiced with some fast sizzling rugby will really brighten up the weekend.

On the schools front, Trinity are riding high on the table closely followed by Dharmaraja, who are both unbeaten so far. In fact the top four teams are within striking distance of each other and Trinity and Dharmaraja have drawn their encounter. This week’s key games will see Wesley take on Trinity while the Petes travel to Kandy to take on Dharmaraja. The Petes will have to come up with a better brand of rugby this weekend if they are to keep Dharmaraja at bay. With these key games being worked off over the weekend in addition to the Rugby sevens, there is no shortage of quality rugby.

The Super Rugby games over the past few weeks have dished out some fantastic rugby. I am a great fan of the revised role of the TMO so that the bulk of the tries scored are checked to ensure that the preceding two or three moves were legitimate and free of any foul play. Even in other situations, the on-field referee is able to get the support and views of the TMO with regard to late / dangerous tackles and even kicks made just outside the 22m line. All the players are happy with the enhanced role and my fervent hope is that some more attention should be paid to the set pieces.

(The writer can be reached via [email protected].)