Sri Lanka will strive to beat Portugal

By Asanka Gammanpila

Once again the Sri Lanka rugby team is gearing up to contest at the International Rugby Board (IRB) Hong Kong Sevens tournament to be held from March 30 to April 1.

All will depend upon skipper Chamara Vithanage’s fitness - Pic by Saman Kariyawasam

The players are hard at training under new Sevens coach Sudath Sampath and are scheduled to leave for Hong Kong on March 28.

Sri Lanka has made just one impression in the 30-year old history of the championships by winning the Bowl trophy in 1984 under Hisham Abdeen.

At the last meet Sri Lanka showed some improvement by beating USA after lapse of ten years and manager Jude Pillai told The Sunday Times in an interview that expectations are running high in the team.

“This side is good and I am very pleased the way the boys have trained”, said Pillai.

He said the return of the hard running Kandy SC player Pradeep Liyanage has further lifted the spirits of the team and created a balance.

He teams up with the other playmakers from his Kandy Club Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and Fazil Marija adding might to the strong back division combination .

Sri Lanka is grouped with Sevens kings Fiji, Scotland and Portugal.
Pillai further added Sri Lanka’s main target is to give hard fight against Portugal “we have little bit of chance to beat Portugal” said Pillai.

Sri Lanka will open their tournament against the strong Fijians on March 30 and will meet Scotland and Portugal following day. The winners of the HK sevens will receive 150,000 US dollars.

Team- Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Chamara Vithanage (captain), Pradeep Liyanage, Fazil Marija
(vice captain), Danushka Perera, Anuradha Dharmathilake, Amjad Buksh, Saliya Kumara, Ashan Karthelis, Ashan De Costa, Lasintha Costa, Eranda Weerakoddy.