It is not the ‘end of the world’ for Sri Lanka Rugby – due to a loss or drop in prestige, which some critics could say through a very disappointing performance by Sri Lanka, at the 2014 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament. This spectacular three-day celebration of the best in “Rugby Sevens” was held last week-end from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th March at the Kowloon Rugby Stadium in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong Sevens” is held once a year and is the ‘most looked forward to’ event in Hong Kong. It was amply illustrated, in a most flamboyant way when it ‘kicked-off’ on Friday 28th at the beautiful Kowloon Rugby Stadium in Hong Kong. With a crowd capacity of over 40,000 spectators, the stadium burst into a frenzied atmosphere of fun fare and festive sounds, causing the rugby fans from many different nations, clad in their attractive attires to go berserk with wild cheering, dancing and playing of musical instruments!
At this year’s tournament sixteen (16) top teams lined up in the “Core Tournament” and 12 other teams competed in a qualifying competition – with the winner of it guaranteed a place in next year’s IRB Sevens World Series 2015. However, Sri Lanka, being the third ranked Sevens team in Asia, was drafted into the Core Tournament, as they made an appearance after five years, on the invitation of the organizers.
One cannot forget the rich rugby history of this ‘little island’ Sri Lanka, which has endured many hard times, civil wars and ‘periodical breaks’ – in it’s justifiable claim to being one of the longest playing Rugby Nations! Since the 1880’s (over 130 years), Sri Lanka has made tremendous progress in the development of the game and has constructed some of the world’s best rugby stadiums, with modern facilities in recent times, in this beautiful country.
Sri Lanka Rugby, has not only improved by ‘leaps and bounds’ in it’s efforts to take this wonderful game of ‘passion and power’ forward, to make it so popular – but can also take pride, having been invited to participate in this prestigious Rugby Tournament over many decades. In the first Rugby Sevens Tournament, which was played on 28th march 1976, only Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Fiji were invited to participate in Hong Kong.
This year 2014, Sri Lanka were invited by the International Rugby Board, having qualified as the 3rd in Asia to be the 16th team in the core competition – along with Asia’s number one and two ranked sides, Japan and Hong Kong respectively. Sri Lanka participated in group “Pool A” –with Fiji, Kenya and Wales. “Pool B” was South Africa, Australia, France and Spain. “Pool C” had England, Canada, Argentina and Portugal. “Pool D” – New Zealand, United States of America, Scotland and Samoa.
Maybe, the Sri Lanka rugby team created a ‘spectacle’ on the rugby field (which at the start earned them some jeers and boos), when they suffered humiliating defeats in the “Core” tournament, playing against the razzle-dazzle of the Fijians(lost 56-nil), Wales (lost 47-12), Kenya (41-nil) – but in the rest of the tournament, Sri Lanka showed incredible improvements and their performances then had ‘cheers’ and ‘wows’! As it was said “spectators were happy to see Sri Lanka playing alongside the “big boys” of Sevens Rugby like Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia or England. It doesn’t mean that they don’t belong here. As far as it is known, Sri Lanka is a team that has good credentials at this competition and they should play more at the top level. They need to be given more exposure, to help them come out of panic situations, such as playing in front of thousands of rugby fans. Selectors must make honourable, justifiable selections of players who are disciplined and perform their tasks – without any favoring ”.
“Sri Lanka played well. There is nothing to be ashamed of about their performance. They fought very hard against Portugal, Samoa and Kenya though they were beaten. These boys should really be appreciated, for the good spirit, the knowledge and the love they have for the game – though they are far lower than teams such as New Zealand, Fiji and Wales Sri Lanka’s performance got better and better as the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens progressed! In fact, for the first time in Sevens history Sri Lanka led Samoa by 14-12 before succumbing to a 33-14 defeat in the Bowl quarterfinals and missed out a golden opportunity to overcome Portugal easily before falling short by five points, 24-19 in the Shield semi-finals” was a comment made by a rugby enthusiast.
New Zealand team were crowned the “Champions” of the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament, after defeating England 26-7 in a scintillating display of quality class rugby to win the Cup final at the Kowloon Rugby Stadium in Hong Kong. That was their 11th Championship Title in Hong Kong and were the only unbeaten team in the competition after 11 games. They led at halftime 12-7 and scored from four tries and three conversions while allowing England their only opportunity to score from a converted try just before the halftime.
Last year’s champions Fiji secured the third place after beating Australia by 21-12, after their earlier their loss against England in the Cup semi-final. England beat Fiji by 17-7 to meet New Zealand in the Cup final. New Zealand advanced to the Cup final after brushing off Australia by 19-7 in the second semi-final.South Africa overcame Wales by 19-14 to secure the Plate championship while Scotland rampaged to beat France 31-5 in the Bowl final. In a close battle Kenya beat Portugal 17-10 to win the Shield championship. With an easy 26-5 win over Italy in the final of the Qualifier Tournament, Japan will be eligible to compete in the Sevens World Series in the 2014/15 season.
To quote from “The Prayer of a Sportsman -“If I should win, let it be by the Code, With my faith and honour held high – And if I should lose, let me stand by the road – And cheer as the winners go by!”
