Sri Lanka meet Philippines in curtain-raiser today
Climbing back to the Top Division of Asian Rugby will be the prime objective of the Sri Lanka Rugby team, led by Kandy SC scrumhalf Roshan Weeraratne, as the Tuskers face off Philippines at the Ipoh Padang Stadium in Malaysia today. This will be the fourth time Sri Lanka, ranked 41st in the world, is meeting the Philippines, ranked 57, since 2011 with a win-loss ratio of 2- 1. The Tuskers have lost once against the Philippines Volcanoes in 2012 in a crucial game that prevented Sri Lanka from gaining a promotion to the Top Division. But the following year Sri Lanka was triumphant in winning all three games that saw them in the Top Tier. In 2014, however, the campaign was a disastrous one, and were pushed back to Division I after four losses. Since 2015 Sri Lanka has been hovering around the Division I segment, despite wins against average side and losing some important games.
Even if the Tuskers reach the Top Tier, the task of remaining there will be a challenge against high-riders Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. According to skipper Weeraratne, Sri Lanka's prime objective, at present, will be to win the Asian Division I Championship where Philippines, United Arab Emirates and the hosts, Malaysia are in contention.
"The team has a blend of youth and experience. It's certainly fair to call our unit a well balanced team at this juncture. We may not have had ample time to gel ideally as a team but with the time we spent in training and preparations, Sri Lanka is a strong team with a clear potential to win the Division I title this year. This will be our goal at the moment and what comes afterwards will be dealt with then," an optimistic Weeraratne stated.
However Sri Lanka will have a clear hurdle in their campaign this time around with the hosts, Malaysia, coming in as the spoiler. Even last season Sri Lanka easily overcame Philippines and Singapore but were outsmarted by a strong Malaysian side with over half of the side being Fijians. Apparently Sri Lanka will be the only side in the weeklong competition to have a set of homegrown players. Malaysia, Philippines and the United Arab Emirates rely much on foreign players or expatriates that have fulfilled the World Rugby guidelines on expat players.
"There are around 10 players who are set to make their international 15s debuts during this competition. These newcomers have qualified through a pipeline and I'm sure they will perform to their potential to safeguard their places in the side. This is a positive sign for the team, but on the other hand the team has had very little or no international exposure since last year's Asian Championships. That will be one of the biggest myster- ies we will have to sort out only by facing our initial challenge against the Philippines today," Inthi Marikar, the Director of High Performance of Sri Lanka Rugby stated.
The team will try to live up to their fullest expectations to give Sri Lanka's most experienced player, flyhalf Fazil Marija, a fitting send off with three straight wins. Marija, who debuted for Sri Lanka in 2004 at the age of 17, announced that the Asian Division I Championship in Ipoh, Malaysia will be his final assignment with Sri Lanka 15s.
"It's clearly going to be a huge loss for Sri Lanka Rugby, the retirement of Fazil (Marija) from the 15s game. He is undeniably the best player Sri Lanka has had in the recent times and the team is keen to win all games and give him a good sendof f," skipper Weeraratne added.
Sri Lanka made a last minute change after centre Lavanga Perera withdrew from the touring side due to a personal reason, paving the way for Sashan Mohamed to make his international debut. Others in line to make their first international appearances are Richard Dharmapala, Thilina Wijesinghe, Nishon Perera, Umesh Madushan, Ashan Darling, Joel Perera, Taariq Saleh and Richie Dharmapala, who are well experienced with exposure from the Asian Youth Rugby Championship and the concluded season of Inter- Club Division I Championship. Besides skipper Weeraratne and Marija, Sri Lanka will have the services of top performaers Danushka Ranjan, Jason Dissanayake, Suhiru Anthony, Dushmantha Priyadarshana, Sharo Fernando, Prasad Madushanka, Niroshan Fernando, Sajith Saranga, Sathya Ranatunga, Chanaka Chandimal, Lee Ke e gal and Omalka Gunaratne. Sri Lanka will play against United Arab Emirates on Wednesday before meeting Malaysia next Saturday.
Sri Lanka Rugby Squad: Roshan Weeraratne (Capt), Ashan Darling, Asoka Jayalal, Chanaka Chandimal, Danushka Ranjan, Dushmantha Priyadarshana, Fa r z i l M a r i j a , G a n u k a Dissanayake, Jason Dissanayaka, Joel Perera, Lee Keegel, Niroshan Fernando, Nishon Perera, Omalka Gunaratne, Prasad Madusanka, Richard Dharmapala, Richie Dharmapala, Sajith Saranga, Sathya Ranatunga, Sharo Fernando, Suhiru Anthony, Taariq Saleh, Thilina Wijesinghe, Umesha Madushan
Standby: Damith Dissanayake, Gayan Jayamanna, Radeesha Seneviratne, Stephan Gregory, Sudam Sooriyaarachchi
Officials: Verebula Fereti ( Coach), Rajeew Perera ( Asst. Coach), Rohan Chinthaka ( Manager), Inthisham Marikar ( Director, High Performance), Tharaka Vithanage ( Physio), Priyankara Buddhika ( Medical Officer)