A Rugby voyage to destiny
The Sri Lanka National squad with officials prior to their departure to Malaysia - Pix by Amila Gamage
When the Tuskers, the official name of the Sri Lanka team, sets off its ARFU Asia Division I Rugby Championship campaign against Singapore at the Royal Selangor Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, they will be tasked with much-missions. Today’s match will be an ideal outing to test the skills of a blend of youth, which includes nine debutantes under and an experienced campaigner Sudarshana Muthuthanthri, who leads the Sri Lanka 15s for the very first time.
As the defending champions of the ARFU Asia Division I Championship, Sri Lanka were meant to be in this segment for a year after it failed to play the ‘reparcharge’ game against ARFU Top 3 bottom seed Hong Kong.
Fate may have decided that Sri Lanka remain in the Division I for almost 12 months but they are determined to move on to the top tier, which includes Asian heavyweights Japan, Korea and Hong Kong. To feature in a reparcharge game this season, Sri Lanka will have to beat Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Against Singapore, the Tuskers will definitely not go out light-hearted but Head Coach Johann Taylor will make it a point to explore a few things. Taylor, who is not a stranger to Sri Lankan rugby and its customs have two assistants in Rajiv Perera and Fazil Marija, who takes a few weeks off from his playing duties to undergo a surgery.
Captaincy is not a new thing for me - Muthuthanthri
“We must defend the title. We are going with a young-laden team but the boys are really keen to prove a point. If not for my surgery, as always, I would love to make my contributions as a player. I’m glad that at least I’m with the boys to encourage them on the bench in the capacity of an assistant coach,” Marija, told the Sunday Times.
In excess to experienced players as skipper Muthuthanthri, deputy skipper Roshan Weeraratne, Kishore Jehan, Sharo Fernando, Riza Mubarak, Achala Perera, the side includes play-makers such as Sandun Herath, Danushka Ranjan, Kanchana Ramanayake, Suhiru Anthony and Chanaka Chandimal, who will don Marija’s position.
The rookies are Prasath Madusanka, Janik Jayaruiya, Rahul de Silva, Kavindu Perera, Bhanuka Nanayakkara, Danushka Dayan, Niwanka Prasad and Sri Lanka Under-20 players Omalka Gunaratne and Kevin Dixon. Out of the lot Jayasuriya, de Silva, Perera, Nanayakkara, Dayan and Madusanka are well experienced players, making an impact in the Dialog Division ‘A’ Club Rugby Tournament. Niwanka Prasad has never played the game until he gave it a shot at Inter Unit games at Sri Lanka Navy a few years ago. By today, from an ordinary rough stone, he has added value to his talent as a precious gem by shooting his way to the top playing a couple of Division ‘A’ seasons for the Navy. Gunaratne, the Sri Lanka Under-20 15s skipper and Dixon Sri Lanka Under-20 7s captain, are two great assets.
“Leading the national side is not new to me. I have captained Sri Lanka in the 7s format earlier and I am the present captain of Havelocks. Our team strength lie with the three-quarters but we possess a very good set of forwards as well. The blend of the experienced and young as I see it, looks very healthy for the side on the long run,” skipper Muthuthanthri stated.
With very little time for preparations as a team, a regular setback experienced by the Tuskers, will not be a setback after all according to the skipper. The team had just two weeks to train together but the captain is optimistic that the sessions and approach of the players on the run up to the tournament was far beyond expectations.
Johann Taylor, as Head Coach, will experiment
“After two weeks of vigorous training, the team is now a gelled unit. It was as if we trained for months. We have a very good set of coaching and support staff and the amount of dedication displayed by the boys by now, say a lot. We will go full out, will never underestimate our opponents, whoever it is and will come out winners. That’s what in our minds at the moment,” a amiable Muthuthanthri said.
After today’s game, which could be a valuator of Sri Lanka’s strengths and weaknesses, the Tuskers will play against host Malaysia on Wednesday with the crucial game against the Philippines, one of the tough contenders, next Sunday. The Tuskers will surely hope to dish out the very same game plan or a much better one they unleashed against a much stronger Philippines side last year in Colombo to clinch out a thriller. What they are aiming at is an unblemished record and a passage to the top tier.
“We have studied other three sides and we may be the only side with locals in the division. Singapore has expats and Malaysia has quite a few Fijians in their side. What makes Philippines strong is their players, who play domestic tournaments in Australia and the USA. But those are just psychological facts and we know what we are capable of as a unit. Our main objective is to defend out title and look of a way to move forward in Asian Rugby,” Marija added.
| The Sri Lanka national rugby squad: Dushmantha Priyadarshana (Havelocks), Prasath Madushanka (Havelocks), Ganuka Dissanayake (Havelocks), Jason Melder (Havelocks), Sharo Fernando (Police SC), Sudarshana Muthuthanthri (Captain/Havelocks), Jason Dissanayake (CR&FC), Buwaneka Udangamuwa (Kandy SC), Roshan Weeraratne (VC/Kandy SC), Chanaka Chandimal (Navy), Kavindu Perera (CR&FC), Kanchana Ramanayake (CR&FC), Danushka Ranjan (Havelocks), Sandun Herath (Havelocks), Riza Mubarak (Police SC), Achala Perera (Police SC), Kishore Jehan (Kandy SC), Suhiru Anthony (Kandy SC), Niwanka Prasad (Navy SC), Kevin Dixon (Havelocks), Bhanuka Nanayakkara (CR&FC), Omalka Gunaratne (Navy SC), Danushka Dayan (Kandy SC), Rahul de Silva (Havelocks), Janik Jayasuriya (Havelocks). Officials: Johann Taylor (Head Coach), Fazil Marija (Asst. Coach – Backs), Rajiv Perera (Asst. Coach – Forwards), Rohan Chinthaka (Manager), Amith Jayasekara (Physio), Asitha Lakruwan (Masseur) |