SL in search of Asian Sevens finals berth

By Shamseer Jaleel 

The Sri Lanka rugby team will be eyeing a final’s berth at the Asian Sevens third and final leg in Colombo on 10 and 11 October at the Race Course Rugby Grounds in Colombo. 

The task though looks near impossible as the host nation will need to overcome South Korea, Japan or Hong Kong in order to achieve this milestone. 

Sri Lanka finished third at the Asian Sevens series last year. This year, despite skipper Fazil Marija and a few other players missing out on the first leg in China, Sri Lanka finished fourth. However, expectations were much higher for the second leg as the Sri Lankan team headed into the competition at full strength but once again lost out in the semi-finals against South Korea in a one-sided affair.

The Sri Lankan final 12 for the tournament will be named early next week. At present Asian Rugby Giants Japan are leading the points table with 24 points followed by South Korea (21), China (20) and both Sri Lanka and Hong Kong sitting fourth with 18 points apiece. 

With the team playing in Colombo in front of what is sure to be a stadium packed with home supporters on both days, expectations are running high. 

“We played inconsistent rugby during both the first and second leg of the tournaments. At times our defence was all over the place and on attack too we made some basic errors. We have learnt from our mistakes and are sure to give the home fans a super brand of rugby. Our aim is to win both the group matches and play in the semifinal encounter,” skipper Marija said. 

“We will need to overcome one of the teams (South Korea, Japan or Hong Kong). We have beaten South Korea in earlier Asian Sevens encounters and came close to beating Hong Kong as well. So this shows that if we are determined and work as a team we can beat any side. A clear example came at the Rugby World Cup 2015 encounter between South Africa and Japan. Who would have thought that Japan would win? We need a full house and home support, which will give us confidence and boost our morale.” 

Both days of the tournament will be free of charge for spectators as the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) hosts the maiden Asian Rugby Sevens tournament. Sri Lanka will play Malaysia (6.18 p.m.) and Philippines (3.20 p.m.) in the group encounters on the first day. The likely Cup quarterfinal opponent will either be Thailand or Singapore.