Sri Lanka successful in getting invited for Hong Kong Sevens

By Lal Gunesekera

RUGBY: The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) have been successful in negotiating with the International Rugby Board (IRB) and receiving an invitation last week for the prestigious Cathay Pacific / Credit Suisse Hong Kong International 7's to be staged on March 28 to 30.

A spokesman for the SLRFU told the Sunday Observer that they made a strong case to the IRB on its performance at the last Singer-Sri Lanka Airlines International 7's last year where Sri Lanka finished third losing to Hong Kong (14-21) in the semi-finals of the Cup category.

Last year (2007) in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka lost to Kenya (14-21) in the "quarters" of the Bowl category after losing all their group games, but in the previous year (2006), Sri Lanka beat USA (21-17) in the "quarters" of the Bowl, but went on to lose to Taiwan (19-28) in the semi-finals. Sri Lanka failed to get an invitation in 2004 and 2005.

The last occasion that Sri Lanka tasted some amount of success at the Hong Kong International 7's was in 1984 under Nishan Abdeen when they won the Bowl title beating Thailand (16-10) in the final. The others in that historic side were Chandrashan Perera, Saman Jayasinghe, Nalin de Silva, Rohantha Pieris, Hubert Rayan, Chula Dharmadasa, C.P. Abeygunawardene and Lou de Silva with Jeff Ratnam as the coach.

The three singer Inter-Club Professional 7's tournaments are to serve as "trials" to pick the national pool from which the final 12-member side is to be selected mid March. The first of these tournaments is scheduled for February 2 and 3 at Nittawela, second on February 16 and 17 at Radella or Badulla and the third at Longdon place on March 1 and 2.

New Zealand tops the IRB 7's World Series ranking after their triumphs in Dubai and South Africa in November and December last year (2007) and considered to be one of the top contenders to win the "Cup" in Hong Kong this year which they have not won since 2001, although the Kiwis have been crowned the overall champions of the IRB 7's Series since 1999/2000 with the exception of 2005/06 when Fiji became the only other nation to reach such lofty heights.

Argentina is back in contention as one of the four top teams, while USA are also exciting and Kenya's experience in 7's game has grown in strength. The core teams can also expect tough competition from Tonga, Russia and Portugal, Fiji, South Africa, England, Scotland and Wales could also make a big impression, while Zimbabwe are making their first appearance in Hong Kong since 1998.