Sri Lanka Rugby Ex-Co to make key appointments

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) will have its Ex-Co meeting today (30 June) in order to make some key appointments in the coaching unit of the national sevens and fifteen-a-side rugby outfits. 

Sri Lanka was to host the two Asian Sevens series legs in Colombo along with the solitary leg in South Korea, but according to the latest developments and present unstable health conditions in the country, the Sri Lankan legs were handed off to the UAE who will host two of the three leg Asian Sevens events in September 2021.

One of the key appointments – the Consultant Director for Development – is widely tipped to be taken by one of the veterans in the field/world rugby top rated official and administrator after the approval of the Ex-Co.

Former England Sevens sensation, Ben Gollings, who had a short stint in 2012 with the national sevens outfit, is also likely to take up appointment as the Rugby Head Coach. He was also in charge of the China, USA and Australian outfits in the shorter version of the game. 

Further the Women’s Head Coach, Sevens Assistant coach plus the Under-19 XV-a-side coach too are likely to be made after this meeting.

The first leg of the Asia Seven 2021 will be worked off in South Korea on 4 September, while the second leg and third leg will be held in Dubai from 19-20 November and 26-27 November respectively. AR will have the first leg in South Korea as World Rugby qualification event. 

With these two events taken out of Sri Lanka, the country’s glimmer of hope of hosting an event in 2021 fades further. This will give the nation the opportunity to host only the Under-19 Asia top four involving defending champions, Hong Kong, hosts Sri Lanka, Taipei and South Korea which is the yardstick event for the Asian berth of the Junior World Rugby Tournament (JWRT) Division 1 for 2022 which will take place in one of the European countries. This event is scheduled to take place in November in Colombo at the Racecourse Rugby Ground.