Asian Rugby Sevens 2017: SL to be without Naveen but Richard likely to be in final 12

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka will miss the service of the young and energetic Naveen Henakankanamage for the third and final leg of the Asia Sevens Series 2017 at the Race Course rugby grounds on 14 and 15 October.

Naveen Henakankanamage

According to the national selection committee, Henakankanamage suffered a hamstring injury. Coming into the squad will be the veteran Richard Dharmapala, Kavindu Perera, Reza Rafiadeen and Rehan Silva. It seems that the selection committee is opting for experience and Dharmapala is likely to make it into the final 12 plus there is an outside chance for Kavindu Perera to come into the final squad as well.

Dharmapala is returning to 15-a-side action after a neck injury which he sustained at the Sri Lanka Super Sevens. Perera toured Hong Kong but missed out on the South Korean leg. 

Heenakankanmge, who had an outstanding tournament with limited exposure at the top level, will be a major loss for Sri Lanka.   

Sri Lanka, who finished fifth at both the Hong Kong and South Korean legs, will need a minimum of a semifinal finish. To achieve this they will need to overcome Taipei and China in the group stages. The other side they will go up against will be second leg winners South Korea who Sri Lanka will meet in their opening encounter. The China game will be a very significant encounter. A maximum of a fourth place finish is what Sri Lanka can dream of under New Zealander Peter Wood. Sri Lanka finished second behind Hong Kong in the 2016 tournament under Dhanushka Ranjan.

Richard Dharmapala is likely to make it into the squad for the Colombo leg

Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea will battle it out for the two slots at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 to be staged in San Francisco where Asia will earn two places. The top two teams in the series will also book their places at next year’s Hong Kong Sevens second tier of 12 emerging teams.