Liyanage to lead Lanka at Singer-SriLankan Rugby Sevens

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

Pradeep Liyanage

Sanjeeva Jayasinghe

The National Selection Committee of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union headed by Brigadier Jupana Jayawardena have picked Kandy Sports Club Centre Pradeep Liyanage to lead the Sri Lanka Rugby Sevens team at the Singer-SriLankan Airlines Rugby Sevens which will be worked off at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium from September 5 to 7, 2008.

Liyanage who led the National Sevens team at the Singer-Sri Lankan Sevens last year and Hong Kong Sevens in March this year has been once again entrusted with the task of leading the Sri Lanka Sevens team.

The national selectors also named the 14-member squad for the Singer-Sri Lankan Rugby Sevens which includes eight players who took part in the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens - Skipper Liyanage, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Saliya Kumara, Fazil Marija, Amjad Buksh, Ashen Karthelis, Ashan de Costa and Wasim Thajudeen.

Isipatana schoolboy Sajith Saranga who had an excellent season in which he stood out for his school and for CH and FC in the second round of the Caltex ‘A’ Division League and Clifford Cup has been selected for the squad along with two other newcomers - former Sri Lanka youth player and Police centre Chula Susantha and Havelocks flanker Sharo Fernando.

Former Sri Lanka Sevens Skipper Sanjeeva Jayasinghe is the most experienced player in the squad having represented the country since 1998. He had a marvellous season this year by scoring 17 tries in the Dialog Professional Sevens worked off in March this year.

Sri Lanka fared disastrously in the Hong Kong ‘Sevens’ losing to Samoa (7-35), England (7-47) and Canada (0-53) in their Group marches before being knocked out in the Bowl quarter-finals by Russia (10-35).

But they are expected to give a much better display at the Singer-Sri Lankan Rugby Sevens and have bene practising hard for the last two weeks under the watchful eyes of the two new national coaches - South Africans Dawie Snyman and Norman Laker.

Four players who played in the Hong Kong Sevens have been axed - Radhika Hettiarachchi, Lakala Perera, Kapila Knowlton and Imran Bisthamin.

The Sri Lanka Rugby Sevens Squad - Pradeep Liyanage (Captain), Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Fazil Marija, Saliya Kumara (all from Kandy SC), Mohamed Sheriff, Ashan de Costa, Lasintha de Costa, Amjad Buksh and Ashen Karthelis (all from CR and FC), Wasim Thajudeen and Sharo Fernando (both from Havelocks), Dilanka Wijesekera (CH and FC), Sajith Saranga (Isipatana and CH and FC) and Chula Susantha (Police).