It all happened in 2015
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The Junior Tuskers have returned to Sri Lanka having beaten Singapore and Chinese Taipei. They came close to beating Hong Kong, but could not, yet returned with their heads held high. The Junior Asian Tournament was a qualification to represent Asia in the Under-20 World Rugby Championship to be played in Zimbabwe. This is the second tier on the U20 World Championship. Hong Kong defended last year’s title and made it a hat-trick of participation in the World Junior event.
Hong Kong made it a clean sweep after a close fight against a gutsy Sri Lankan side. A slender one-point lead at 14-13 with five minutes left and the last few minutes saw Hong Kong dominating and sealing the game through a penalty try and extended the lead thereafter to win 24-13. This scoops a spoonful of a need to plan for the future with the talent we have. The school section has drawn up a blueprint for development of the game and is expected to discuss same, shortly, with the Minister of Sports. Discussing with the Minister is good but why is it that they don’t involve the governing body. I was told that it is a big burly stumbling block that prevents co-existence and the forward March. That aside, the achievement of 2015 by the Juniors is close only to the reach we had when the Sri Lankan Sevens team was almost beating Japan in the semi-final in the ARFU Sevens Series.
That being said 2015 for rugby, for most part of the year, has been under a Competent Authority appointed by the Minister of Sports. Hopefully we might see an elected body in place in 2016. The intention of the Ministry of having a duly elected body was clear as the Referees’ Society conducted their Annual General Meeting and inducted Nizam Jamaldeen as President.
2015 saw a less controversial School Rugby season. That was the beginning of having a steady scrum, quick ball at the tackle and space at the break down. This was seen as important areas for a referee to clean and make the game flow. The same expectation has been extended to the club season. The question is whether this has helped to provide entertaining rugby. I would say that there was improvement in game flow in school rugby though not comparable to the excitement rugby provides in tier one or two nations.This change on emphasis probably helped the Junior Tuskers. But not enough to seal a win against Hong Kong with a penalty try conceded.
The club season sees a steady scrum, less disruption at the tackle but less structure and denial of space by coming forward but cunning in not getting whistled. That is because in is the centre or the wing that keeps ahead of the line. At the tackle I have seen a lot of penalties being conceded. This despite that they know of the need for tackler release, release the ball and don’t go to ground. However the last two weeks has seen more attempts of positive play. Yet the standard and skill are not fitting for good game of club rugby. In the Navy match there was one player who dropped the ball at least five times through unforced errors when most of them were in clear attacking try scoring situations. What is true of this match has been clear in many games. To catch and pass has been erotic and not suitable at this level. The coaches blame the nurtures while the nurturers say they do not know how to use players. This pulling apart needs to be addressed as we leave 2015. In 2016 too if we go on the basis that we have nothing to do with the schools and they in turn say why should we go to them, the game will be stuck at where we are.
End 2015 also saw a New President appointed to head Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) from Japan. Sri Lanka contested to head Asia but could not get their like in the Juniors match against Hong Kong. This however has been a talking point. The gossip is about how many votes and the majority. Some say it was a close call and the majority was thin. Others like to say that the support we got was thin. There is always something in the fraternity to talk about and mostly become anecdotes of time. It is like rugby in 2015 which moved as if a rum passed mouth to mouth. Nothing serious happens and only manages to leave a bad taste. The good taste when word goes mouth to mouth is to offer you compliments of the season and a happy new year. Hopefully in 2016 more tries will be scored or else we may end up asking what that white line is for. On the other hand if we keep eluding the white line the day we get there and see the white substance somebody may call doping control.
* Vimal Perera is a former player, coach, referee and an IRB Accredited Referees’ Educator