Sri Lankan Sevens teams need more exposure: Inthi Marikar

Asian Sevens 2017 review

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Hong Kong and Japanese men’s teams booked their places from Asia for next year’s Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco. Hong Kong defeated Japan 19-14 in extra time in the final of the third leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Colombo.

Though Asian giants Japan conceded victory to Hong Kong, they secured an overall Asian Sevens series 2017 win, overtaking the Hong Kong outfit by two points. South Korea had a disappointing trip to Colombo when their hopes of a San Francisco berth faded away when they lost the third place playoff to the home team Sri Lanka. Hosts Sri Lanka, after losing 21-28 in the first round, took sweet revenge when they outclassed the Koreans 22-5. Hong Kong have also qualified for the World Series qualifier of April’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2018, along with Japan. Hong Kong have never missed a Sevens World Cup.

Sri Lanka dished out better rugby in the Colombo leg with the return of the experienced Richard Dharmapala, who missed both legs in Hong Kong and Korea. He and Dhanushka Ranjan were a nightmare for many teams in the tournament, accumulating 55 points between them and scoring 11 spectacular tries in the third leg alone.  

Sri Lanka defeated China and Taipei and were edged out by South Korea with a difference of one converted try. Coming into Day Two, they got past Malaysia but once again Hong Kong remained a Sevens rugby puzzle they could not solve. Coming into the play-off for third place, Sri Lanka beat South Korea. A little more effort in the earlier legs, along with some pride and commitment, would have given the local boys a much-needed ticket to Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Sri Lanka’s third leg heroes were none other than Dhanushka Ranjan and Richard Dharmapala. Both found gaping holes in their opponents’ defence with Ranjan a treat to watch for the appreciative crowd, who braved heavy rain on both days.

In the women’s segment once again Sri Lanka displayed quality rugby, going down to Hong Kong and Japan in close first round encounters. In the end they settled for sixth position but they deserved a much higher ranking in the tournament with their brave effort on both days.  

Former Sri Lanka Sevens and Fifteens player and Sri Lanka Rugby High Performance Director Inthi Marikar said: “There were major improvements with us beating China and South Korea. We lost to China in the first leg and then drew in the later one in Hong Kong. We improved in our performance but we are sad that we lost to Hong Kong. Sooner or later we need to find a way to beat Hong Kong. They invest heavily in their Sevens rugby. I am happy with the performance of our women, who almost beat Japan and Hong in the group encounters. We are heading in the right direction. I am happy with that but we require more Sevens tournaments in the near future for our boys and girls. And there should be continuity with the Sevens program.”