Concerns for Sri Lanka ahead of Asian Rugby Division 1 series

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Sri Lanka looks to end an ambitious wait in Division 1 rugby of the Asian Men’s 15-a-side rugby tournament when they scrum down with Pakistan and Qatar at home (Colombo) in a tri-nation tournament scheduled to be held from April 28 to May 5.

Sri Lanka are in Division 1 of the tournament and will need to come out winners if they are to move up a notch and earn promotion to the Men’s Asian Rugby Tournament (also known as the Asia Top Four Tournament) which now features South Korea, Malaysia, UAE and last year’s winners Hong Kong China.

There is also a Men’s Division II tournament which features Asia’s lower rung teams. In the year 2022, Pakistan won the Division II tournament and qualified for the Division I tournament where they received a mauling the following year (2023); Pakistan suffering two thumping defeats at the hands of UAE who recorded a 95-0 and a 93-3 victory in a two-match series. UAE then moved up to the Men’s Asia Rugby Tournament and will be playing against Asian giants like Malaysia, Hong Kong China and South Korea in this year’s (2024) blockbuster Asian tournament.

Hong Kong China, loaded with expatriates, are hot favourites to win this segment once again. This team showed its class and prowess in 15-a-side rugby when they demolished South Korea 30-10 and Malaysia 88-9 last year. For the record Japan doesn’t play in this Asian tournament and earns direct entry to the Rugby World Cup.

The irony for Sri Lanka is that they once played in the Men’s Asia Rugby Tournament in past years and gave teams like South Korea and Hong Kong China (Then Hong Kong) a run for their money. And this was not very long ago. The Covid pandemic and then the subsequent bans on Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) by World Rugby, Asian Rugby and its very own ‘Ministry of Sports’ in Sri Lanka spelt doom for rugby in the island. The lowest patch in the country’s rugby history was recorded when the islanders had to seek entry to make the line-up of teams at the Asian Games ‘Rugby Sevens’ event last year under the Olympic Council Association Flag. Sri Lanka had no national rugby identity at this tournament and finished in 10th place; just ahead of Philippines which finished 11th. Sri Lanka also missed out on at least one top Asian Sevens rugby tournament due to the ban.

Now the national men’s rugby team of Sri Lanka has a massive task of working its way up the ladder in the Asian Rugby segment. Still the national rugby pool has not been named. There is only speculation doing the rounds with the names of coaches in the likes of Sanath Martis, Nilfer Ibrahim and Dushanth Lewke being floating in the air as possible choices for the position of head coach. It is also interesting to see whether SLR will appoint a full time ‘national coach’ (For a selected period of time) or pick a ‘Sri Lanka coach’; as a stop gap measure and only for this series.

According to informed sources the players for this Asian series would be handpicked by a national technical committee and their names will be sent to the national selection committee who in turn will send in their recommendations to the SLR executive committee for approval. This list will have to be ratified by the Minister of Sports. There are concerns in the air too because the tournament dates (According to the Asian Rugby official website) has been fixed from April 28 to May 5. The only factor standing in favour of Sri Lanka is that the cream of the island’s players has been actively playing rugby during the past couple of months. This is largely thanks to the hyperactive domestic inter-club league rugby tournament, which spanned from December 2023 to March this year.

Given the form that the Sri Lankan players are in, the challenge that the islanders must overcome doesn’t seem overwhelming at all. The only challenge that they might encounter comes from Qatar. Pakistan is a side carrying a bundle of hopes in the Asian rugby circuit, but their participation on the Colombo tournament is quite uncertain given the volatile political condition in Pakistan. Unconfirmed reports state that in the event Pakistan makes itself unavailable, Sri Lanka would play a two match series against Qatar before a winner is found and promoted to the Asian Rugby Tournament; for the 2025 edition of the tournament.