Can Sri Lanka end at No. 3 in Asia?
By Shamseer Jaleel
On the surface, Sri Lanka’s participation in this year’s Asian Sevens Series brought the usual expectations, but in reality, there’s much more riding on a successful campaign for them now than ever before. 
Sri Lanka ended at No. 4 in both the tournaments in Hong Kong and Malaysia with South Koreans blocking number three position on both the occasions. Asian Giants Japan and Hong Kong occupied the top two slots as usual.
With Japan qualifying themselves to play in the ongoing IRB World Series 2014/2015 as the Asian Qualifier it’s the next two teams from Asia which will get the chance at the Hong Kong Sevens 2015 in March to play in the second layer at the World series and the best sevens stop- over in world rugby.
Sri Lanka will find it tough against Japan, Hong Kong and a much improved South Korean outfit as these three outfits who are professional in their sport. Sri Lanka’s preparation for this tournament and the Asian sevens series in Hong Kong was good with the team head Coach and Fijian sevens star Stefano Cacaloa did a great job. But with the Malaysian sevens coming within two weeks’ time, there was hardly any time of recovery for the players.
Then came in the sudden departure of the head Coach due to being selected for the Fiji sevens team for the World series currently held in Australia where he featured in the starting line-up of the Fiji outfit. Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) President and the past sevens coach and player came in as the Coach for the Asian sevens. Here also the Sri Lanka sevens team ended as second best to South Korea and lost the chance of grabbing a Bronze in at the Asian Games Incheon, South Korea.
It’s tough for Fazil Marija and his young men to continue playing rugby throughout the year without a break and with the club season also just two weeks away, much will be expected by the club who pump in millions for their preparation to retain the league and knock out which are much-looked-forward-to events.
It’s not going to do any good for the players as there will be 16 matches (eight home and eight away) with nine teams participating this year. Plus there will be lot of travelling taking place with Hambantota Sharks deciding to play their home matches in Beliatte. This will see a Colombo side travelling only two times out (once to Beliatte and other one to Kandy) but both Kandy and Hambantota Sharks will have a lot of travelling plus funds to be set aside for this purpose.
The last leg in the Asian Sevens series will take place in Beijing on 18 and 19 of this month which will the end for this year’s Asian rugby calendar. Sri Lanka will field both Men’s and Women’s teams at this tournament.
Women’s
Group A – China, Japan, Thailand, Philippines
Group B – Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Singapore
Men’s
Group A – Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei
Group B – Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Kazakhstan
Group C – South Korea, Thailand, UAE
Group D – Japan, China, Philippines
