Sri Lanka’s Sevens Rugby on the rise

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

A team which has made vast progress in sevens rugby in the Asian region is the Sri Lanka Sevens Rugby Team, who came up with a stupendous performance to clinch the Plate Championship at the Shanghai Sevens nine days ago.

The Sri Lankans who bagged the bowl championship at the Borneo Sevens in Malaysia one month ago came up with an even better performance three weeks later, in Shanghai to win the Plate Championship by beating Thailand 22 – 7 in the final in their first match of the tournament, the Lankans went down fighting to the mighty South Koreans by 12 – 17 due to a last minute try before losing to formidable Hong Kong by 7 – 36 on the first day.

But they got their act together on the second day to thrash Singapore 41 – nil and United Arab Emirates 43 – nil to storm into the Plate final in which they beat Thailand.

The man who brought about this remarkable change in Sri Lanka's fortunes is their new coach Englishman Ben Gollings.The highest points scorer in sevens rugby and a specialist rugby sevens coach Gollings was able to improve the skills of the Sri Lanka Sevens players and mould them in to a formidable outfit after he took over as Coach in the last week of August.

He noticed the leadership qualities of experienced Sri Lanka Fly-Half Fazil Marija and recommended him to be appointed as the Sevens Captain for the Shanghai Sevens to the national selectors who responded by appointing Marija as the Captain for the Shanghai Sevens and this move paid rich dividends with Marija giving a superb display in the tournament including two brilliant tries in the final against Thailand and proved to be a source of inspiration to his teammates who also gave of their best.

Gollings believed that Lankans with their fitness and speed could reach the top in the Asian region and beat elite teams like Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.

Sri Lanka's performance in Shanghai saw them climb to the seventh position in Asian Sevens rankings.

The 37 member pool will continue training and more players who excel are likely to be added to the sevens squad from which the final squad for the third leg of the HSBC Asian Sevens in Mumbai, India on October 13 and 14 will be selected.

The President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union, Asanga Seneviratne and his Secretary Rizly Illyas should be lauded for obtaining the services of Ben Gollings as Coach as both of them believed that Sri Lanka's future lies in Sevens Rugby because of their speed and fitness and this display augurs well for the future of Sri Lankan Sevens Rugby.