Tuskers flew last night ahead of the Asian Rugby Championship (ARC) to Philippines. Before the departure SLRFU had organized a jersey presentation ceremony at the Kingsbury hotel.
Seven debutants appeared in the touring squad namely, Buwanaka Udangamuwa (Kandy SC), Dulaj Perera, Jason Melder, Ganuka Dissanayaka (Havelocks SC), Dulanjana Wijesinghe (Navy SC), Kanchana Ramanayaka (CR&FC) and Randika Alwis (Army SC).
Chief guest Dr. Indrajith Kumaraswami the veteran who captained the Tuskers in 1974 and also played against Japan in the Asian 5 nations finals in that year, handed over the Tuskers shirts to captain Fazil Marija and the seven debutants at the ceremony.
Coach Johan Taylor addressed the evening saying “I have been in Sri Lanka few years now and this lot deserve to be in the squad, they are the best in the concluded league and more than that they are true gentlemen”. “It is always easy to work with gentlemen than the best players”, he further added on the intense training and the possibility of winning the tournament. In addition to this Taylor mentioned that he got everything he requested by the union and now its time for the boys to deliver the best.
The President of SLRFU Mr. Asanga Senevirathne also addressed the gathering “I was watching Korea v Hong Kong match and it was more like one of the club games in Sri Lanka, we are much better than Kazakhstan and Philippines”. He also said that he is working on implementing a scientific training and assessing, high performance center in Sri Lanka and he had personally negotiated a 95million sponsorship deal for rugby.
Sri Lanka will play against Kazakhstan on 6th Wednesday at 11.30 am SL time. The Tuskers will then play against either Singapore or the hosts Philippines depending on the result. In the last two meetings against Kazaks Tuskers lost 34 – 18 in 2011 but won convincingly 49 – 18 in 2013 at Colombo. Since it is a 2pm Philippine time start it is more suitable weather for the Lankans and they are most likely to play against the hosts in the promotional battle. Against the Philippines in the last two meetings, the Tuskers lost both – 25-26 in 2014 and 18-28 in 2012.
However, captain Marija is confident of winning the title.
The touring squad
Forwards – Sean Wijesinghe, Kishore Jehan, Sashika Jayawardene, Shehan Dimithri, Buwanaka Udangamuwa (Kandy SC) Henry Terrance, Achala Perera, Sharo fernando, Suhiru Anthony, Dulanjana Wijesinghe (Navy SC) Dushmantha Priyadarshana, Jason Melder, Ganuka Dissanayaka (Havelocks SC) Randika Alwis (Army SC)
Backs – Fazil Marija (C),Roshan Weerarathne, Lavanga Perera, Nigel Ratwatte (Kandy SC), Dinusha Chathuranga, Reeza Mubarak (Navy SC), Sandun Herath, Dhanushka Ranjan, Kavindu De Costa, Dulaj Perera (Havelocks SC), Kanchana Ramanayaka (CR&FC)
