Sri Lanka men’s rugby team needs urgent revamp

Asian Sevens Series 2018 Colombo

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Sri Lanka men’s rugby squad will need a top performance against Hong Kong and China in order to secure a semi-final berth in the Cup segment when the tournament kicks off on 13 October at the Racecourse rugby grounds in Colombo. This will also give an opportunity to avoid defending champions Japan coming their way in the semi-final encounter.

This series, the final one, will be very vital as this will decide the two top teams for next year’s Hong Kong Sevens Asian qualifications in the emerging team events from the Asian Zone. Taipei, a lower ranked team, will be no threat for Sri Lanka but they will need to get the better of China and Hong Kong in the Colombo leg.  Sri Lanka never found the winning formula against Hong Kong either in Sevens or Fifteens for more than two decades, which will be a major headache for Head Coach Peter Woods.

Injured players Kavindu Perera, Dhanushka Ranjan, and Gayan Weeraratne are making steady progress for a comeback into the squad after a dismal performance by the national rugby team in the men’s event in the Korean leg where Sri Lanka ended  sixth in the eight-team event.

Meanwhile, the women’s outfit continued their success at number five with a Plate win in Hong Kong and added another to their vault with the same ranking in the Korean leg. Once again, the major obstacle for the women’s team entering the Cup semi-final would be the Hong Kong women’s team.

After the two legs, Japan is leading both the men’s and women’s segments with Sri Lanka men’s on par at number four with the Philippines outfit while the Women’s occupy number five in the eight-team event. The top four teams in the women’s outfit will qualify for the Hong Kong Sevens 2019.

The Sri Lanka women’s outfit is sponsored by SAGT.

Men’s

Pool A                Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia

Pool B                Hong Kong, China, Sri Lanka, Taipei

Women’s

Pool C                Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea

Pool D                China, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Singapore

 13 October 

Men’s

Vs. China            15/42 p.m.

Vs. Taipei           19/22 p.m.

Women’s

Vs.     Hong Kong       2/36 p.m.

Vs.     South Korea    17/20 p.m.

14 October 

Women’s

Vs.     Japan                 10/44 a.m.

Men’s

Vs.     Hong Kong       12/12 p.m.