Watching the Sri Lanka team at the Hong Kong stadium was an experience in itself. I must have been the equivalent of one of those boring uncles who goes to the Royal Thomian and watches the cricket, but what can you do? Can’t fight it. Also given how expensive Hong Kong is, it’s probably good thing my real weakness is dim sum.
Sri Lanka started off in group play, and it would have been unfair to expect much more from the group that we were in. Fiji, Kenya and Wales were the opponents, and as expected Sri Lanka had difficulty getting on the scoreboard. However, the results do not show the strides that Sri Lanka have made in the recent past. Many will compare scorelines from years gone by and attempt to draw parallels. This is foolish. 7s rugby is on a different plan from which it ever was. These highly conditioned athletes play sevens all year round, and the game has become a battle of attrition and physicality, compared to the flair and skills of decades gone by.
To expect Sri Lanka to be competitive in this environment is harsh. Especially since we probably had the worst preparation for a sevens tournament as we have had recently. Most of the players were coming off a gruelling 15 a side season and the rust was evident in the Kenya and Fiji games.
Sri Lanka were also forced to rotate their squad more than usual because of a knee injury to Shenal Dias. The only player who can physically take on international opposition limped off in the first half of the first game. Gayan Weeraratne was not a a big part of the Asian 7s circuit and his play as a forward was naturally found wanting at crucial occasions. With Dias’ loss, Sri Lanka could not find any ball at restart time and were forced to live of scraps. That said however, Srinath Sooriyabandara backed himself and almost scored against Fiji although Sri Lanka didn’t quite threaten the line against Kenya. With Wales on the second afternoon, Sri Lanka had found a rhythm but lost a bit of gas. Fazil Marija and Soori made two late breaks against the Welsh and Mithun Hapugoda supported well to score a couple of tries, so that we got on the board in the group stages.
The tries were good tries, and were met with appreciation from the local fans. Even in the Fiji game, Sri Lanka may have been swept aside on the scoreboard, but maintained their dignity in the loss.
The next morning Sri Lanka were out to play against the might Samoans in the Bowl Quarter Final. No doubt playing against bigger opposition and several island players on the domestic circuit had helped our boys mentally, and they didn’t take a bakward step against Canada. Ranjan opened the scoring and another try by the deceptive Sooriyabandara who covered 60m gave the underdogs a shock 14-12 lead at half time.
Gregory Foe’s hat trick put Sri Lanka behind for the first time in the game, and it was some good rugby from the Samoans that stretched the Sri Lankan defence to put Foe, the big man, over in the corner three times. The game hung delicately in the balance at 19-14 and it was at this stage that Gayan Weeraratne’s inexperience was exposed, with him failing to pick up Ratwatte’s excellent run into space until too late, forcing a bad pas and a knock on, while his hack and charge moments later, should have resulted in ball for Sri Lanka. The referee’s dubious ruling that a Samoan drop went backwards, led to another try, and in the end Samoa ran home winners by 33-14 although they got a helluva scare. The defensive weaknesses in lateral movement by Muthuthanthri and Weeraratne was obvious as the two had not featured heavily on the sevens circuit. This is not for any lack of effort or skill on the part of the players, but purely due to not enough preparation of defensive patterns.
Sri Lanka’s next game was Portugal, in the Shield semi final. Once again, Sri Lanka started badly conceding points from the restarts. Dias was sorely missed, and we were completely unable to secure ball from the kick off, and a few times palmed the ball into onrushing attackers’ hands. Despite that however, Sri Lanka came back manfully, And a bit of Sooriyabandara magic allowed Marija to pick up a punt pass and score under the posts. 12-7 at half time.
Portugal scored again from a kick off and scooted over from the blindside. Small errors in concentration, but that’s what games are decided on at this level. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka defended resolutely and Dinusha Chathuranga scored in what was a quiet tournament for him. Mithun Hapugoda, then jinxed his way through the defensive line and showed a clean pair of heels in a pulsating race to the corner flag. However, by the time Sri Lanka drew within one score at 24-19, it was all too late.
Once again, Sooriyabandara and Marija were very good. However, the absence of Dias – as I keep saying – was a huge blow. The forwards were considerably weakened, and with backs playing as forwards, Sri Lanka lack the competitiveness at the breakdown that other teams display so well. The ability to tackle ball and all, and then compete and slow down the offensive ball legally, is a technical skill that the Sri Lanka backs don’t possess. It needs to be mastered to succeed at sevens.
Mithun Hapugoda is a finisher. But without Sooriyabandara, and to a lesser extent Marija, Sri Lanka have no other creative players. Nigel Ratwatte is one such player but perhaps didn’t get enough game time. Dhanushka Ranjan started all the games and did well within his limitations. He was solid defensively and took on some bigger players. He also showed good pace to score a few tries. However, at centre, he is not yet a replacement for the absent Pradeep Liyanage. His distribution and decision making needs to improve. The forwards were also wanting at set piece and restart time. Perhaps the likes of Chula Susantha and Sharo Fernando should be considered as full time sevens forwards as they have the size, fitness and aggression.
The Sri Lankan results showed that we are certainly a work in progress. The teams we were up against were full time professionals and physically way ahead of the Tuskers. Everything from recovery to warm up is handled by professional trainers and coaches who have been in the business for ages. To take nothing away from Nilufer Ibrahim, he has done a great job since he took over. But he needs the guidance of a Ben Gollings around to take the intensity of training and preparation to the required level. The Sri Lankan side cannot afford, but also desperately needs specialist personnel. Soori has lit up the Asian Sevens Circuit, and we shouldn’t run him into the ground playing domestic fifteens and other formats. Marija is also a senior player now, and both of them looked tired on the field, despite trying their damndest.
The Sri Lankan Tuskers won several hearts in Hong Kong this year. The tries they scored were high quality tries, and teams had to work hard to score against them. If our administration can prevent ourselves from constantly deviating from what works, then our future in Asia will be set. Whether we can do that is anybody’s guess.
