The annual Borneo 7s rugby tournament will take place at Sandakan the home of the Eagles Rugby Club in Malaysia from 27th Feb – 1st March. This is an invitational tournament which takes place each year and it is played across Asia / Pacific countries.
The Sri Lanka team will leave the island on Wednesday early morning with a strong and experienced team. In addition to this CR&FC duo Kanchana Ramanayaka (Center) & Anuradha Herath (Wing) have been added to the twelve man squad. Meanwhile sevens sensation Srinath Sooriyabandara and Sajith Saranga has found his way back in to the squad after a long absence with injuries. Havelock’s assistant coach Rajeev Perera has been named as the coach of the Tuskers for the first time.
Questions have been raised in the community as to how a team could compete with just 3 sessions of training with a squad which has not been confirmed until the penultimate day to departure. Further with the Dialog Rugby league reaching its climax players run the risk of injuries as well. Once again the lack of a fairly rehearsed 7s squad working towards Olympic qualifiers is also a concern.
Nevertheless, the Tuskers will have a huge and physical challenge when they take on the Pacific Islanders Tonga and Papua New Guinea. Looking at the current squad Sri Lanka should be able to beat Singapore and China but playing against Hong Kong is a brutal battle as Sri Lanka lost four times in the last Asian 7s series and where as Hong Kong became the champions beating Japan three times.
Kanchana and Anuradha had a brilliant time in the ongoing club XV’s and although it is a different format them deserve a place to see how they can perform. Sajith Saranga who is currently leading Navy team has also found his form. Dulaj Perera debut in the last year’s China 7s and made a sparkling 70m try. Mithun Hapugoda, Sandun Herath will provide extra gas while Danushka Ranjan, Sudarshana Muthuthantri and Dinusha Chathuranga have to do some all round work.
The veteran captain Fazil Marija said to ThePapare.com “The current squad has the knowledge and experience but it is about how we execute in the short span of time in to a good performance. We all have had a decent time in the Dialog League and we hope we can contest well and to the best of our ability”
Rajeev Perera the new coach shared his views “This is a tough challenge and the boys have experience playing in this format. Although not enough training time will look forward to play as a team and we want to get qualified for the Hong Kong 7s” Perera former Havelock’s hooker has been in the club for the last three years and also a part of the success when Havies won the league in 2012. Rohan Chinthaka will be manager and Amith Jayasekara has been appointed as the Physiotherapist.
Fixtures – SL time
