Sri Lanka men’s rugby team in preparation ahead of the Asia 7’s series which will kick off in Qingdao, China on the 5th & 6th September. The second leg will take place in Bangkok on 26th & 27th September and the final leg will be in Colombo on 10th & 11th October.
The national selectors have named a 25 man squad after the concluded Mercantile and Dialog club rugby 7’s. Sevens sensation Srinath Sooriyabandara is back in the training after being ruled out with a knee injury in the Mercantile 7’s last month.
The other speedster from Kandy Vishwamithra Jayasinghe will unfortunately skip training due to his studies. Experienced Dinusha Chathuranga is still struggling with an injury and might miss the first leg in China. Nevertheless, the squad will be trimmed down to 16 men on Wednesday. The current squad also contains some new talents in the likes of Rochana Hettiarachchi, Kavindu Perera, Jason Dissanayake all from CR&FC and Mohamed Absal and Musheen Faleel from Police SC.
The Tuskers are presently training under their new coach Matthew Turner who is an English international and has also played in the Carlton 7’s in Sri Lanka for the Central Kings franchise. Turner said that it was a new task from playing 7s to coaching and he is aware of some of the boys and how they play and that therefore, it will not be too much of an ask to finish in third spot.
The Squad
Kandy SC – Fazil Marija (C), Gayan Weerarathne, Roshan Weerarathne, Nigel Ratwatte, Anurudda Wilwara, Lavanga Perera, Richard Dharmapala, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Shehan Pathirana
Havelock’s SC – Sudarshana Muthuthantri, Sandun Herath, Dhanushka Ranjan, Dulaj Perera, Hirantha Perera, Rehan Thyagarajah
CR&FC – Kanchana Ramanayake, Rochana Hettiarachchi, Kavindu Perera, Jason Dissanayake
Navy SC – Dinusha Chathuranga
Police SC – Mohamed Absal, Mosheen Faleel
