Lankans out of their dream

Sri Lanka rugby finally came out of its own fantasy with a humiliating 45-14 defeat at the hands of Hong Kong last Sunday. Our rugby officials have been day dreaming and living in a fantasy of their own after we beat Asian minnows China, Kazakhstan and Singapore.

But the Lankans finally got out of their dream after the thrashing they had in Hong Kong. Having beaten a makeshift Chinese side 30-0 under hot Colombo weather, a fortnight ago, the Lankans thought they are now `top of the pops'. But Hong Kong put an end to the day dreaming of the Lankans with a superb performance.

When we pointed out that the win over China, which looked a mere second string side, was not something to craw about, our officials and players would have thought that we are unpatriotic. But the facts were stubborn.

We had to tell the bitter truth for the betterment of the game and with the genuine intention of putting Sri Lanka rugby back on the right track. That was why we questioned the so-called development work done by the SLRFU. That was why we stood by Coach George Simpkin when he was threatened by a senior player, though the New Zealander later denied such incident.

We did not have anything personal; neither had we had any club affiliations, personality battles or blue-eyed boys in the national pool. All that was mentioned and exposed in these columns were done in good faith, for the best interest of the game and for the benefit of the sports loving public.

But when we exposed some raw deals, the real culprits could not take it in t right spirit. They were living in a dream world of their own. On the other hand, we can not expect anything more from them when we have `deaf and blind' managers who did not utter a word in the infamous Simpkin-NW drama.

Having enjoyed the joint No.3 spot in Asia with Taiwan in 1998, Sri Lanka rugby had a drastic drop to slump to No.10 by 2002. At Busan Asian Games, we were thrashed by a team which we had comfortably beaten in the past - Thailand by 72 points to nil, or `72 for no loss' in the cricketing parlance.

Singapore, China, Thailand, Malaysia or Kazakhstan were never considered serious opponents before 1998. In fact, China and India took to rugby during this time. We even beat Hong Kong and Taiwan in that golden era. But eight years later, we highly overestimate ourselves after beating a half strength team from Beijing.

Could we call it development? If so, one has to change the original definition of that particular word from the Oxford dictionary! To the credit of Simpkin, we would like to appreciate the effort made by the veteran coach. But have we given a fair deal to Simpkin with the selections? We even have not given Simpkin the luxury of having a strong feeder pool, as done in late 90s.

True that large volumes of monies, given by the IRB and big-time sponsors like Caltex and Singer, have been lavishly spent on 'development' But the real standard of the game here is well below what was experienced a decade back.

In a post match interview in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka rugby captain Sajith Mallikarachchi has stated that our team was small-made when compared to Hong Kong. Only now that they realize it!

Scribes, who did not know a ball about rugby, even stated that our rugby is now at its very best and even talked of our chances of beating Japan and South Korea. They predicted an easy win for Lankans in Hong Kong. When we play Japan, the lads from Tokyo normally score a `century' against us.

Similarly, the mighty New Zealand 'All Blacks' scores a 'century' when they scrum down against Asian heavyweights Japan. On this simple logic, even a primary schoolboy could understand where our rugby stands in world level.

Our world ranking may have gone up by six places to be 40th after exposing a helpless and inexperienced Chinese team under hot sun. Unconfirmed reports said visa applications of six regular players in the Chinese team were turned down on the grounds those came late.

Though we have won five matches in-a-row, it does not mean that we are a force to reckon with in international rugby. We would have loved that idea and feeling but unfortunately, we are only 'champions of the minnows'.

Why did the SLRFU decide to take a third coach with the team to Hong Kong along with regular coach Simpkin and his deputy C.P. Abeygoonawardena. Was it a joy ride or done with good intention just because the SLRFU felt that Simpkin and 'CP' may run short of ideas.

It was a pathetic display by Sri Lanka. The hosts had a good game plan to which the Sri Lankans did not have any answer. Hong Kong did not show any mercy in running down as many as seven tries as the Lankans looked like wounded soldiers. No. 8 Dushantha Lewke, after his fine game against China, once again showed some promise but his lone wasn't a strong medicine for his team's wounds.