Pools announced for Korean Rugby Sevens

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Asian Rugby Sevens series second leg will now move to South Korea when the Korean Rugby Union (KRU) organise the tournament on 24 and 25 September at the Namdong Asiad Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.

Sri Lanka who ended as number two in the first leg in Hong Kong will have an easy passage in the first round as they are grouped alongside China, Singapore and Malaysia while the other group will have hosts, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Taipei battling it out for supremacy.

Hong Kong won the first leg while Sri Lanka was placed second in the men’s segment. In the women’s segment there will be eight teams battling it out but Sri Lanka will miss out the chance at the second leg. The Sri Lanka sevens squad under new skipper Dhanushka Ranjan will commence training today under the watchful eyes of Head Coach Matt Turner. Two sevens specialists Srinarth Sooriyabandara and Sudharshan Muthuthanthri will be making a comeback for the sessions. The touring squad of 12 players will be named early next week.

Men’s segment:

Pool A – Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taipei

Pool B – Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, Malaysia

Women’s segment:

Pool C – Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Uzbekistan

Pool D – China, Thailand, Guam, South Korea