Venturing out of the Asian comfort zone

Serendib Cup Triangular Rugby Tournament on October 26

Venturing out of the Asian comfort zone

Chris Dhambarage

Chairman Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) Asanga Seneviratne believes that with the kind of enthusiasm and the present competitiveness rugby is on the verge of becoming the number one sport in the country within the next few years.

The former S. Thomas’ College, CR and FC and Sri Lanka fly half made these observations during the launching ceremony of the inaugural Serendib Cup Triangular International Rugby Tournament which will be staged from October 26 to November 1 at the newly constructed Race Course ground in Reid Avenue.

Asanga Seneviratne was extremely pleased with the excellent performances of the Sri Lanka sevens rugby team in the recent past and was optimistic that they will be able to carry the same form into the longer version of the game.

“We should be proud that the sevens rugby team has now reached the number three position in the Asian Rankings and I am confident that very soon rugby football will overtake cricket as the most popular and followed sport in the country within the next decade.”

The SLRFU President also hoped that the team will produce the same form in the upcoming Serendib Cup Triangular Rugby Tournament at home where a European nation and an African team will compete together in a tournament probably for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan Rugby.

“We are currently ranked 39th out of over 160 countries playing the game and our target should be to get into the top 25 by putting up a good performance at the Serendib Cup Triangular Rugby Tournament against Poland and Madagascar.”

This event will also give Sri Lanka the best possible preparation for next year's Asian 5 Nations Top 5 where they will take on Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines with the winner qualifying directly to the 2015 World Cup as Asia’s number one, while the runner-up will enter the repechage (another trial for losing teams to qualify).

Seneviratne also stressed the importance of bringing in changes to the SLRFU inter-club domestic season calendar in view of keeping the national players in the proper mindset ahead of the busy international schedule.              

“The main goal in changing the domestic structure is to allow the national players to concentrate and prepare for the international sevens series in an attempt to qualify for the World Cup.

“We also have more time to prepare for next year’s vital division one, fifteen a side Asian Five Nations tournament plus the World Cup Sevens Qualifiers which will be held in August.

“Also the rains are expected in the months of December and January and we felt it is much better to have the tournament during this period. We have spoken about these changes for many years and nobody has ever done it before but we have done it from this season and so I hope it will bring the desired results at the end”.

The SLRFU Chairman also believed that with the change of dates of the inter-club domestic rugby season from this year schools rugby will benefit to a great extent with more emphasis on the schoolboys.   

“We decided to make a change to the domestic rugby tournament calendar because of the schools. Schools rugby is the cradle of Sri Lankan rugby and they were struggling without grounds and referees because there were too many matches clashing with the club games.

“This new tournament structure will also benefit the rugby enthusiasts in the country as those who were watching the school matches and could not watch the club matches will have a chance of following these matches separately.

“In the same way those who were interested in the club matches and who missed the vital school games will now have the opportunity of following some of the inter-school rugby matches as well. There will be enough time now for the spectators to attend these matches,” added Seneviratne.