Lanka Lions on the loose at Dubai Sevens

Former Sri Lanka skipper Radhika Hettiarachchi pleads that national team needs foreign players:

by Allaam Ousman

Dubai: Lanka Lions are turning on the style with their dazzling brand of rugby to live up to their billing as title favourites in the Gulf Men's Open segment of the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens.

The Lanka Lions are on the verge of glory after racking up over a century of points to top their pool. Bolstered by the presence of two Fijians, the Lankan expatriates in the UAE are keeping the Lion flag flying high. But they may not be the centre of attraction having to showcase their skills on the fringes of a tournament where 16 of the best men's teams and 12 women's sides battle for glory in the HSBC World Sevens Rugby Series as the Road to Rio (Olympics) beckons.

However, the Lankan side is not short of motivation as they lived up to their pre-tournament promise of aiming for the Cup by advancing to the knockout stages with spectacular ease.The manner in which they have performed thus far gives them every reason to be proud representatives of the island nation in this iconic tournament.

Cup runners-up in 2013 and losing semifinalists last year, Lanka Lions came up short in the past despite even bringing down renowned coaches.Their formula for success this time was simple. They retained Dubai resident with Havelocks experience Richard Murcott as coach but opted to bring in Fijian flair.

VitoTuivione and Ranato Tavite have without doubt made a difference to the fortunes of the Lankan side. Tuivione has given them more muscle in the set pieces while Tavite has emerged as the play-maker of the team.

Former Kandy SC and Sri Lanka rugby captain Radhika Hettiarachchi believes even the national side can reach the top in Asia if a couple of foreign players are included.

Sri Lanka finished fourth in the Asian Sevens Series despite beating South Korea and going down narrowly against Japan in the third and final leg in Colombo.

"If we don't have foreigners playing for clubs, how will our standard improve? At the same time, without foreign players we can get through on the first day of a competition (Sevens). But we will struggle in the final knockout stages," said Hettiarachchi, 38, who is making his first appearance at the Dubai Sevens turning out for the Lanka Lions Veterans side.

"As we are slightly built, we need some powerful players to beef up our defence," said the former three-quarter who retired playing for club and country in 2013 and guided Dharmaraja College, Kandy to a historic triumph in the inter-school'A' division League in his maiden season as coach.

"We are not short of talent especially in attack. Our backs have speed and side-stepping skills. But we need that extra edge in crunch games," said Hettiarachchi who cherishes the brace he scored against Australia at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2010.

"It's better for our rugby if we have foreigners," said Hettiarachchi who has been for it since first captaining Sri Lanka in 2003.

Not surprisingly, the Lanka Lions turned to Fijians to bring that extra dimension to the side with Saimoni Rokiniaka 'Rocky' having represented the Vets side regularly in the Dubai Sevens.

They are certainly reaping dividends with Tavite using the searing pace of winger Amin Jamail in particular to maximum effect. The former Sri Lanka Youth player has been a revelation in this tournament, emerging as their leading try-scorer bamboozling opposition defences with his scorching pace and goose-stepping runs.

Most of his tries have been the result of long passes from Tavite who looks out for the flying winger whenever the opportunity to attack is available. Jamail scored Lanka Lions' first try in their 38-0 win against Damascus Xenobians followed by a brace against Medina Eagles (31-10) on the opening day.

After a tight opening in their final pool match against Dubai Exiles II, Tavite opened the floodgates by breaking through following a line out while Jamail pounced on a bouncing ball to cross the line.When Lanka Lions were down to six players after Dulanka Gunasekera was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle, Tavite conjured a try from their own goal-line with a brilliant counter attack by chip-kicking and winning the chase to score under the posts.

Jamail not to be outdone scored twice in quick succession after the interval to put the finishing touches to lovely passes from Tavite and skipper Madisha Silva while Gayashan Wijayasinghe made it 38-0.

Lanka Lions were also on a roll in the Cup quarter-final against Dubai Wasps II with Jamail scoring four tries, including a hat-trick in the first half, the third a spectacular dash against the run of play.

Gunasekera added to their final tally of 33-0 by jinxing his way through with the Lions soaring in confidence.