By A Special Sports Correspondent  

Sri Lanka’s rugby players got the opportunity to come out of the woods and be back in the game with their participation at the Warrior Cup rugby sevens held recently in Colombo.

New players impressed during the two days of rugby and the sport found a new winner in Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club who won the Cup Championship; probably for the first time in the domestic seven-a-side rugby history of the game.

The tournament featured mostly players from the security forces establishments and the Police and also two clubs, which are struggling to stay on their feet. CH & FC did well to win the ‘Plate Championship’ and saw five of its players named in an initial national squad of 20. The squad is preparing to contest the upcoming Asian Sevens Series scheduled to be hosted in Dubai on November 19 and 20.

Havelocks SC looked quite ordinary on day one, but played better on the second day to finish as winners of the ‘Shield’ competition. One of the local favourites Havelocks SC had many ‘youth’ in its line-up, but none of them were named in the initial national squad announced soon after the tournament. According to reliable sources many players named in the squad are carrying injuries-sustained at the domestic sevens tournament- which would mean that there will be new names added to the squad as training progresses with coach Nilfer Ibrahim and the watchful eyes of Ben Gollings, who serves as the Consultant Director of Rugby Sevens.

Probably the injuries were expected because the players were in ‘cold storage’ for a good part of the past one and a half years due to restrictions on sport due to Covid regulations.

Despite the rustiness shown by players at the domestic rugby sevens, expectations are high that they’ll bounce back to their usual strengths as they go through the training sessions conducted by experts hired for the task.

Sri Lankans have the knack for the abbreviated form of rugby union and have kept their heads high in the Asian Sevens Series with some telling performances in the past. There have been many occasions when Sri Lanka showed the potential and had good preparation for the Asian Sevens, but teams like Hong Kong and Japan have often taken the game away from the islanders.

This season is going to be a challenge for the players. This is because the national pool has been formed with players being drafted from as many as five different clubs; in the past the best sevens players came from Kandy SC, CR & FC, and Havelocks SC. But this time around Havies didn’t have their players in the initial pool and the players from Kandy and the Longden Place club were not considered for selection because they didn’t take part in the domestic sevens championships.

 Rugby critics however point out that some of the national players who could not be involved in the recent selection tournament should be considered for selection taking into account past performances and their services to national rugby. It would be unthinkable for Sri Lanka to compile a winning line-up at an international rugby sevens tournament without players in the calibre of Danush Dayan, Kavindu Perera, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Jason Dissanayake and Tarinda Ratwatte; who are all members of the Nittawela Club.

Sri Lanka has been pooled along with teams like UAE and Asian giants China in ‘Pool B’. The teams forming ‘Pool A’ are South Korea, Philippines, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The initial Sri Lanka squad for the Asian Sevens Series was picked by a selection committee headed by former Sri Lanka skipper Asoka Jayasena. This squad is likely to include new faces, according to informed rugby sources.

Training concurrently with the men’s national team is a women’s rugby pool which will also contest the tournament in Dubai.

The following is the initial national squad picked to go into training for the Asian Sevens: Nuwan Perera, Ishara Madushan, Ramith De Silva, Anjula Hettiarachchi (Air Force), Sachith Silva, Iroshan Silva, Vageesha Weerasinghe, Suranga Kasun (Police), Sudharaka Dikkubura, Nalaka Maduranga, Lasantha Kumara, (Army), Adeesha Weeratunga, Kanchana Ramanayake, Chathura Senevirathne, Nishon Perera (Navy), Samual Ogbebor, Hirantha Perera, Kushan Indunil, Reeza Raffaideen, Janidu Dilshan (CH&FC).