Henakankanamge and his Junior Tuskers with a mission to accomplish
For his age Naveen Henakankanamge has already gained international exposure with the Sri Lanka 7s team - File pic
Today, the Racecourse ground in Colombo will host, what could be Sri Lanka’s long awaited passage to the Junior World Rugby Championship (JWRC), when the Junior Tuskers take on the strong Hong Kong outfit.
The match is scheduled to kick off at 2.45pm in a two-legged home and away series, which determines the team that will compete in the World Junior Rugby Championship.
The team led by former S. Thomas’ College skipper and dashing winger Naveen Henakankanamge, will definitely hope to emulate what his predecessor of the Thomian outfit of 2001, Jeevan Gunatilleke, did 16 years ago. It was the only occasion Sri Lanka ever qualified for a JWRT and apparently as Naveen, Jeevan too was a prolific school rugby player for the Thomians way back then.
Coincidence in the captaincy and the opportunity could come as fact, at a time when Sri Lanka is eagerly looking forward to knock down Hong Kong at the two-legged Asian Under-19 Championship. But back of the minds of the Junior Tuskers, would haunt the fact that Hong Kong thrashed them by 61-0 last year, which may be a hypocritical theory, but the hosts of the first leg have done their homework to see the fortunes would be reversed.
“The team is really excited for the fact that the match is being played in Sri Lanka, but there’s a little bit of pressure as well. Our preparations have been good, we have been training for almost six weeks now. The time has been short but we have done a lot to gel as a unit. Our plan is to break Hong Kong’s plans, as we have studied them well ahead. We will go match by match, and the first hurdle will be to win the first leg in Colombo,” stated skipper Henakankanamge.
Henakankanamge will have a set of prolific rugby players who are freshly out from the ended School Rugby Season, though the final selection may not be the best out of the lot. Many, who should be in the final squad, have missed out the opportunity of representing Sri Lanka due to commitments with their respective clubs. However, the final 25 players who have made it to the Sri Lanka Under-19 team vs Hong Kong in today’s all-important game, are a energetic and enthusiastic lot.
“We have got the best of players, definitely Hong Kong will have much bigger players than us, but we have a reputation of attacking. We will definitely have the home advantage and will look to capitalise with the conditions,” Rajiv Perera, the coach said.
Sri Lanka have never won against Hong Kong at junior level and today will be an ideal opportunity to change that record. The Junior Tuskers has not had the best of luck in the Asian circuit in the recent times and the fortunes could be possibly changed for good, if all falls in place. Last year Sri Lanka beat Malaysia and Chinese Taipei handsomely, but lost disastrously to Hong Kong, a team the islanders would love to beat. Following today’s game both teams will head towards Kowloon, Hong Kong for the second leg of the series, which will finally determine the team that will reach the JWRT.
Sri Lanka Under-19 Squad vs Hong Kong
Props : Aveesha Priyankara, Ashen Fernando, Vimukthi Gamage, Shaveen Ekanayake, Dinesh Rodrigo
Hooker : Sven Muller
Locks : Rishen Madena, Thimira Amanda, Umar Mohideen,
Shashika Ashan
Third rows : Zayan Jabbar, Gihan Perera, Nipun Tharaka, Mohamed Shabeer
Scrum half : Harith Bandara, Hashan Madumadawa
Fly half : Chathura Seneviratne, Lakshitha Ranaweera, Randy Silva
Centres : Dinuk Amarasinghe, Theekshana Dassanayake, Gemunu Chethiya
Wings : Naveen Henakankanamge (Capt), Diluksha Dange
Fullback : Chamod Fernando