All hail Sri Lanka Rugby’s most gracious host of the final Asian 7s series 2018.
Little or no doubt about the quality and sheer professionalism of the Japanese squad thru the entire 2018 series.
Food for much Sri island thought and a definite divide in skills, fitness finish, consistency and discipline.......that sets them apart from Hong Kong and yet further from us.
Here lies Sri Lanka’s quest and challenge over the next 3 seasons in Asia, and ambition on the World 7s platform.
Our 4th place recovery, much better than 6th in Korea...but still outside all further World 7s qualifiers...
We miss out on the biggest platforms going.
The World Series, Asian, the 7s World Cup and the mother of all the 2020 Olympics.
As 7s islanders we are still short on the magic....little shy of the hard graft....... lack petrol to outrun...and burning questions about belief.
But for me as your older ‘deckchair’ expert.....it’s all on ball retention, being out gunned and out muscled at the breakdowns.
If you had a stats buddy grey matter analyst....the teams that win the deck and wrestle strong are significant winners throughout.
Japan and HK clearly a level above all other Asians and easily outplay all contenders including Sri Lanka.
Reality is always way above fiction and naturally a bitter pill to swallow.
Four years we have been hovering around the top 3 and failed to make the cut regularly.
Under the experts microscope, despite playing 3 regular wingers as our line...Kavindu, Ranjan and Naveen...or Dixon....we still lacked pace to run round the defence and relied lots on trying bust thru the drift D.......sapping up lots of petrol in the process.
We are also short on work rate ball dog forwards like Muthu, Gayan and Jason.....vital cogs in our ability to crash through.
I am a firm and stubborn believer in building our reputation for an island brand of rugby as championed by Fiji, Samoa, etc.
Dreams of consistency are defiantly the way forward and upward.
We certainly can’t be circling on the outside....its time our coaching and thinking, for both the men and women, considered how we plan to beat a Japan or Hong Kong....how we win both attack and defence, forcing errors from imposing pressure.
Sri 7s has been described aptly as plenty the skills to run but lack the power to pressure sides, and turnover ball as required.
Both teams 4th and 5th place Plate for the women......acceptable, but still way short of being a force in Asia.
All in all we are still short on the top grade to be a team with magical attributes.
Take Kenya, Portugal, Argentina, Canada, Samoa and USA...sides that have shocked the world by beating the best ...showing us the way to fly at that elite altitude.
The time has come the walrus said...time to change Sri 7s history and be rated as a consistent force in Asian rugby...we make this destiny our reality.
All hail our future for 7s.
Bula bula Sri Api!
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