Lanka to play only Five Nations Rugby next year?

Sri Lanka's national 15-a-side and Sevens ruby teams will be all but starved of international rugby in the ensuing 12-month period, with the Asian Five Nations Division II tournament being the only high-profile tournament in the pipeline currently, according Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) sources.

The Asian Five Nations Division II which is a 15-a-side tourney, is to be held in either Arabian Gulf or Thailand around April next year, while for most of the year the country's national players will have to be content plying their trade on the domestic club circuit in 2009.

Sri Lanka, Arabian Gulf, Chinese Taipei and Thailand are expected to contest the Division II while, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and Singapore are in line to go head to head in a separate Asian Five Nations Division I competition in choosing the sole Asian qualifier for the 2011 Rugby Cup in New Zealand.

According to rugby union sources no invitations thus far have been received to compete in the famed Hong Kong Sevens or in any other International Rugby Board (IRB) World Series Sevens circuit events following abject performances of the senior Sevens team in the past couple of years.

(JK)