Club Rugby Sevens on February 16 and 17

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

The first leg of the Inter-Club Rugby Sevens will be worked off in Kandy on February 16 and 17, 2008 which will be followed by the Second Leg at Longden Place on March 1 and 2, 2008.

Earlier the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union had decided to conduct three sevens tournaments and the first leg was scheduled to be played on February 2 and 3, 2008 at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course but the tournament had to be cancelled due to the unavailability of the ground.

Kandy Sports Club which has reigned supreme in ‘Sevens’ Rugby by winning the title for six years in a row will once again field a star studded outfit and will go all out to make it seven-in-a-row.

Kandy SC first clinched the Rugby Sevens Title in 1999 under the leadership of Harris Omar by overcoming CR and FC by 12-5 in the final but surrendered the title in 2000 and 2001 to Havelocks but regained it in 2002.

Sri Lanka ruggerites Anuranga Walpola, Dushanth Lewke, Imran Bishamin and Radhika Hettiarachchi will play in the pack while the back division will comprise Saliya Kumara (scrum half), Fazil Marija (fly half), Pradeep Liyanage and former Sri Lanka ‘Sevens’ skipper Sanjeeva Jayasinghe.

Centre Pradeep Liyanage who led Kandy SC to victory in last year’s sevens by overcoming CR and FC (28-5) at Radella and 15-7 at Longden Place is likely to lead the side once again at this year’s sevens. CR and FC led by scrum half Amjad Buksh too field a side packed with national players and will go all out to wrest the title from Kandy.

The ‘Red Shirts’ forwards will consist of Ashen Karthelis, Anuradha Dharmatilleke, Senthil Kumar while Amjad Buksh, Ashan de Costa, Lasintha de Costa, Mohamed Sheriff, Dinesh Kumara and last year’s Kandy SC Winger Mohamed Jabbar will be the three quarters.

CH and FC which won the Rugby Sevens Title in 1997 and 1998 will also field a formidable outfit.

National players Dilanka Wijesekera, Achala Perera and Dinesh Sanjeewa will be the forwards while the back division will comprise ‘Sevens’ specialist Tilan Shamrock, Sri Lanka full back Dinuk de S. Wijeyeratne, Matheesha de Silva and Skipper Lakala Perera (who has represented the Sri Lanka Sevens team since 2003).

Last year’s Cup Championship Semi-Finalists Sri Lanka Army will be another strong contender for the title. The soldiers have always fared well in ‘Sevens’ rugby - their best performance being in 1995 when they lost by a Whisker (16-18) to Havelocks in the final.

Veteran Kapila Knowlton, Asoka Jayalal and Manoj Silva will play in the pack while the back division will have some superb runners in Sri Lanka ‘Sevens’ player Asanka Perera, Tharindu Darshana, Ambuwangala, Parakum Fernando, Duminda Wickramaratne and Saliya Handapangoda (the find of the season last year).