The National Rugby sevens team will leave the island early morning, ahead of the Asia Sevens series second leg in South Korea this weekend (24th & 25th September).

Sri Lanka Tuskers finished as runner-up in the first leg in Hong Kong and the team is highly confident with some experience coming in to the squad. The third and final leg will be played in Colombo on 15th & 16th October at the Racecourse.

The Tuskers have drawn in pool B alongside Malaysia, Singapore and China. Interestingly this pool looks safe for a semifinal place as Sri Lanka beat Malaysia and China in the first leg. However, China was brilliant in Hong Kong as they beat the defending series champions Japan and much fancied South Korea. With legendary sevens player Ben Gollings coaching the Chinese women’s team it looks like this Chinese team is getting a shade of his experience and knowledge to the men’s team.

On the other hand it was expected that Fiji power might boost the Malaysian team this weekend.  No Fijians played in the first leg for Malaysia although there were several eligible players playing for them on the residency basis. Singapore looks unpredictable as they lost 46 – 00, 45 – 00, 29 – 00 to Hong Kong, Japan and China respectively but they managed to beat Malaysia 14 – 12 and lost narrowly with 07-00 against Japan in the plate finals few weeks ago.

Sri Lanka in a trouble-free group for Asia sevens 2nd leg

Pool A can be considered as pool of death, as Japan, Hong Kong and the hosts South Korea battle each other along with least favorites Chinese Taipei. Hong Kong won the first leg and will be looking to retain that winning run. South Korea always play well at home and it will be an interesting tussle to see which two teams will be promoted to the cup semifinal. Japan the power house might have a few changes in the team due to injuries, but there won’t be any addition from the Olympic squad who beat the All Blacks in Rio.

Coach Matt Turner stated in an exclusive interview with ThePapare.com that “players now understand their roles, and other roles of people around them.” “The main thing is understanding the game plan and stick to the game plan” Turner said. “I think it’s in our hands, we have the ability to make it to the finals and the ability to win the finals, just need to stick to the plan and a right mind set, there is no reason why we can’t win finals.”

Captain Danushka Ranjan speaking to ThePapare.com said that “we hope to top the group on day one and will do our best to go to the finals like we did in Hong Kong.” He also commented on the absentees for this tour Jason Dissanayake and Kevin Dixon “Jason and Kutty (Dixon) played extremely well in the first leg but due to injuries they were unlucky to miss this tour, but I hope they will be fit for the final leg in Colombo.” Also he is confident that the addition of Srinath Sooriyabandara, Kanchana Ramanayake and Richard Dharmapala will strengthen the team with more experience.

Sri Lanka Rugby : Three changes for the 2nd leg of Asia sevens

Coach Matt Turner also stated in an exclusive interview with ThePapare.com that “players now understand their roles, and other roles of people around them.” “The main thing is understanding the game plan and stick to the game plan” Turner said. “I think it’s in our hands, we have the ability to make it to the finals and the ability to win the finals, just need to stick to the plan and a right mind set, there is no reason why we can’t win finals.”

Kevin and Muthu

Meanwhile, Sudarshana Muthuthantri (wrist )and Kevin Dixon (knee )are recovering from their injuries and also had a cupping therapy which is a type of a deep tissue massage.

Asia 7s fixtures