Sri Lanka has the talent to be on top in Asia
View(s):The first leg of the Carlton International Sevens played in Galle had the Jaffna Challengers high riding to end up winners. The big names were somewhat jaded on day one but came back on Sunday. The Kenyans with the Jaffna Challengers proved to be what they have promised to be. Those who saw them will realize that it may not long before they will be toasted as the seven’s players of the world.
They did perform well during the IRB circuit as well as the Rugby World Cup sevens played in Moscow. They are strong and have that extra swerve and the pounding run that will make them stand out. Carlin Isles from USA playing for Sabaragamuwa Stallions easily 
outran the opposition when he was given the ball. It was a split second that he needed to change to top gear and off he went. Isles has been torching the track since his taking to rugby in 2012. A former US track athlete having realized that 2016 Olympics in the track was to be a mammoth task required to be the best of the best changed his pathway and took to rugby. 100 in 10.4 seconds and a 40m in 4.2 seconds is how fast he could brush past you and he hopes the dream of Olympics will be achieved in RIO 2016. Kenya who ended fourth in the Moscow Rugby World Cup has the chance to win a medal in a mainstream sport. This week end in Colombo you could see the above aspirants burn the field with the host of others who have been the sevens top runners of the past.
While the best of the world was blazing the track the local rugby players showed they had the talent as they too got the sevens feeling on day2. Some of them took on the big boys while others stepped out and in and then ran as they ran to the try line. On day one some of them were still in fifteen mode as they went into contact. On day two they decided to straighten themselves and caught the hearts of many. There are lots of them who will look good for the sevens circuit in Asia due soon. Probably 2016 Olympics in Rio from Asia if they sharpen the skills as the talent is already there. It was good to see the tackler taking the hands off and rolling away while the ball carrier released that the ball and there were fewer hands in the ruck.
What needs to be corrected is the giving 10m at the penalty where many were guilty of and were lucky to get away. There were fewer calls of referee “that was too harsh” as the imported men with the whistle were hard on release at the tackle and the calls were much faster than at the two legs of the local sevens. What the law book says is that the tackler must immediately release or move away and the tackler must get up before he plays the ball. The tackled player must make the ball available immediately so that play can continue or must pass or release the ball and again the key word is immediately. The common fallacy that the referee must give time is nowhere in the book and immediate is the judgment of the referee. It was a lesson to see most of the top players releasing the tackled player or the ball and getting on their feet before continuing to play. That’s a lesson for the local players and hopefully the Mercantile Sevens due in August will see this in practice.
The teams itself has an opportunity to be able to recover on day two in the format that the Carlton Sevens is played. That is what some teams who went down on day one did on day two and ended on top. The finish was there and the thrill was good and definitely the rugby will be good.
For Sri Lanka it is to take a cue from Kenya and USA. Get your objective in place and work towards this.
Kenya has won 86 medals at the Olympics and 56 have been for track events in long distance running. It is the opportunity to take a medal at the Olympics in a team event that is seen as the carrot for the running horse. Carlin Isles is aiming to win a Olympic Medal and changed course from the track to rugby.
They know what they want and are working to achieve it. Sri Lanka has got the opportunities it has to be made use of to get where they want to be in rugby. A chance at the Olympics gives American who is still the reigning Olympic champion a title they won in 1924. After which rugby ceased to be an Olympic Sport.
Rugby sevens requires not just continuous movement but continuous thinking. There are few chances for a coach to stop play and tell a player what he should do. Sevens is not just athletic talent that is there with Kenya as well as USA and others. Sri Lanka too has the talent to be on top in Asia and possibly RIO 2016. That talent has to be coupled in sevens with intellectual talent. To be number one requires the boys to play and not be directed from the sideline.
Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB
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