Sri Lanka cuckoos into 2014 to face the Asian Five Nations tournament

In cuckoo folk songs, Shirley Collins sings “cuckoo is a pretty bird that sings as she flies and brings good tidings”. Others sing “Well the cuckoo is a pretty bird and she warbles as she flies.” It folk songs have many versions while the cuckoo is the harbinger of spring in Tibet. Cuckoo is a bird that lays eggs in the nest of others. In Sri Lanka the Koha (cuckoo) is an early bird that whistles the arrival of the New Year. Cuckoo also means eccentric or unconventional. Rugby in Sri Lanka embraces all these tidings of the cuckoo – the koel or koha as well as the eccentricity that goes along.

Sri Lanka steps into 2014 to face the Asian 5 Nations tournament and has to play to remain within the first five. In Sevens 2014 it is necessary to run harder to be among the first three. Being in the first two is not impossibility in both forms of the game. The tuskers have an appointment to show themselves at the core team pre-qualifier in Hong Kong and probably have a go in London to be the 15th country in the core sevens teams.

The winner of the Asian5Nations tournament will qualify directly to the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The second place team will enter a playoff against the second place African team and the third place European and American teams.

The qualification process in Asia has been on since 2010 including the top four levels of the Asian5Nations tournaments. The winner of the 2014 Asian 5 Nations will qualify directly to the 2015 Rugby World Cup as Asia 1 and the runnerup will advance to the playoff. The 2014 A5N is the last of the RWC Asia qualifying games.

Sri Lanka has to meet Asian giants and need is to be a serious aspirant to play and defeat countries like Japan Hong Kong Korea and Philippines. Other than Korea the other three countries have expatriate players eligible under IRB rules playing for them.Sri Lanka too should gear them to face this challenge and use the IRB eligibility criteria. We have had foreign players among our clubs and hopefully some may be able to meet the conditions. This should have been planned years ago when we had an Interim Committee which was followed by a questionable committee and the last drop

being tasted now is a real council of the constituent clubs. That is where as in one flew over the cuckoo’s nest we have wasted a lot of time on mundane issues. To be among the best and to succeed to take a next step need quality rugby which comes from quality teams in a good club tournament. The rugby dished out this year has seen abilities exhibited in many ways. When some clubs get a century recorded against them; the top competitive nature of rugby goes down the drain. When players and clubs have to get involved in trying to figure out whose baby it is; the problem has done too much damage. It is like the cuckoo who lays eggs in the basket of cousin crow and Mrs. Crow hatches them. It is like the clubs who nurture players and then they defect to leave the club gasping while the competitive nature of the game takes a beating.

Competition is important for the development and maintenance of both fifteens and seven’s teams if we are to be among the best in Asia. It is not about how much you spend or the number of big names you have. It is about competition quality that will polish the players.

To get the material into clubs we need a good tournament at the schools: the cradle for feeding the National Teams. We have a good structure and a process in place for school rugby. The requirement is to have quality rugby in the tournament so that a skilled and experienced set of players will evolve. If you take the 2013 tournament most games were competitive. Tenth placed St Joseph’s beat league runners up Trinity and almost beat winners Dharmaraja. They also beat one and drew with another that is above them. It is that type of competition that will take the game forward. As proposed the tournament next year will have twelve teams and hopefully the two additions are on par with the other ten. If so we have a game on hand. If somebody tries to make it 14 and others want to make it 16 as a convenient way out then it looks to be heading for rugby to be played on cricket grounds as some matches may need a cricket scoreboard. If there are four schools wanting to play in the top division they do have a chance as if they stand among the first four in Division B they play the last four of Division A in the second round. You then have the chance to get into the first twelve in 2015. At this juncture you know whether you are ready or not. You got to walk the talk: can you if you can it is all right if you can’t then you are making only noise that springs from emotions.

* Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB