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by Lal Gunasekera

Sri Lanka stands a good chance if the local players could hold 'our scrums' and win the lines-out against Kazakhstan at the Central Stadium in Almaty on Tuesday, in their Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2007 qualifying round game. The 26-member squad comprising 22 players and four officials left the island on Friday night and returns on Wednesday. The return game with Kazakhstan is on November 12 at London Place.

Speaking further, Sri Lanka's national coach George Simpkin the New Zealander, said that if Sri Lanka does beat Kazakhstan on a better points aggregate in both games, they will either meet China or Arabian Gulf in the next stage between March and May next year (2006).

Simpkin said that the Kazakhstan players are big made - a linesout jumper is 6 feet 5 inches and very heavy forwards in the scrums. He said : "Technically, our forwards are much better than what they were a few months back, but unfortunately we have insufficient games to improve further. They use their "heads" now - that's the biggest important, with a lot more thought going into the game."

He further commented that the residential camp at Diyatalawa arranged by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) was a tremendous help where the climatic conditions were concerned. It was a good experience as the current temperature in Almaty is around + 15 C during the day.

The New Zealander is looking for two to three international quality players of equal strength for each position by next year and said that Sri Lanka has five good players to play as props.

Once the Sri Lanka team returns to Colombo from Almaty, they will again go into a training camp in Colombo from October 29 to November 10 to prepare for the return game with Kazakhstan.

Earlier in the RWC qualifying games, Sri Lanka beat India 54-17 in Mumbai and Thailand 35-14 at London Place last year (2004), while this year, the Lankans have already beaten Thailand 48-38 at Suphumbari and Singapore 34-17 at London Place.

The tour squad is as follows:- T. A. Silva (Army), Sanjeewa Jayasinghe (Kandy), Chamara Vithanage (Kandy), Pradeep Liyanage (Kandy), Sajith Mallikarachchi (captain-Kandy), Asnaga Rodrigo (CR & FC), Amjad Buksh (Kandy), Dushanth Lewke (Kandy), Dilanka Wijesekara (CH & FC), Pavithra Fernando (CR & FC), Anurudha Dharmathillake (CR & FC), Jayantha Ranaweera (CH & FC), Viraj Prasantha (CR & FC), Nilan Ekanayake (CH & FC), Fazil Marija (Kandy), Lalindra Redrigo (Havelocks), Danushka Perera (CH & FC), Dinesh Sanjeewa (Old Zahirians), Anuranga Walpola (CR & FC), Shamil Mohamed (CR & FC), Senthil Kumar (Navy), Kishore Jehan (Old Zahirians), George Simpkin (coach), Chandana Abeygunawardene (assistant coach), Sqdr. Ldr. Sanjaya Fernando (manager) and M. D. Warnakulasuriya (physiotherapist).

The President of the SLRFU Priyantha Ekanayake, said that Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited is the Sri Lanka team sponsor, while Ceylinco Insurance is the match sponsor for the return with Kazakhstan.

Ekanayake also said that Sri Lanka will play at the Rugby 7s event in Melbourne at the Commonwealth Games on March 16 and 17 next year (2006), while the Sri Lanka under-19 side will play in the Youth (under-19) Asiad in Lahore, Pakistan from December 5 to 11 this year.

Ekanayake further said that training has already commenced for the Youth Asiad under Provincial Unions in Southern, Western and Central Provinces, while a pool will be selected after two trials in Kandy and Colombo on November 5 and 11 respectively. Here too, George Simpkin, has been appointed as the head coach, while Kinswood's Ronnie Ibrahim will assist the New Zealander.

He further disclosed that the SLRFU have organised two International Rugby board (IRB) Level I coaches Workshops in Colombo on November 1, 2 and 3 and also at the Pallekelle Stadium, Kandy on December 1, 2 and 3 to be conducted by George Simpkin himself.

Also, an IRB Level I Referees Workshop conducted by Dilroy Fernando will be held at the SLRFU held quarter's on December 10 and 11. The SLRFU, according to Ekanayake, hopes for at least 250 Level II coaches by next year (2006), and are searching for more ex-players to take up refereeing and are even attempting to get forces personnel involved.

It was further divulged that Sri Lanka were 49th (up from 63 in 2004) in the IRB 15-a-side ranking, while in Asia, Sri Lanka, are ranked 7th (up from 9th in 2004). In the Asian 7s scene, Sri Lanka, are ranked 5th. The SLRFU hopes that Sri Lanka will be ranked within the top 40 in the world and within the top five in Asia in the 15-a-side by the end of 2006, while they are also determined to find Sri Lanka within the top two in Asia in the 7s game next year.

It was also revealed that Sri Lanka may compete (if qualifies) in the Hong Kong 7s in March next year, while the Singer-SriLankan Airlines 7s are scheduled for September 16 and 17, with the Asiad scheduled to be staged in Colombo from November 16 to 25 next year (2006).

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