Sri Lanka men’s and women’s teams for the second leg of Asian Rugby Sevens in Seoul, South Korea on September 23 and 24 will be led by Sudantha Muthuthahtri and Randika Kumudumali respectively. Lankan teams will take wings to Seoul tomorrow (Sept. 20) and the tournament will be held at the Namdong Ruby Stadium.
Lankan men will be coached by New Zealander Peter Woods while their women’s coach is Sudath Sampath.
The Asian Seven Series is an annual series of regional rugby sevens tournaments conducted by the Asia Rugby Federation featuring national sevens teams from Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Chinese Taipei. The best two teams will be selected for the 2018 World Rugby Sevens Championship.
Japan won the 2017 series opener beating Hong Kong 19-12 in the first leg final at King’s Park, Hong Kong. Both teams entered the showdown with perfect records, although Japan’s march to the final was more convincing. Japan’s Siosifa Lisala who scored 10 tries in first leg was adjudged the Player of the Tournament. Japan posted 44-0 and 40-5 wins over Malaysia and China on their way to first Cup final since 2015.
Host Hong Kong crumbled Taipei 50-0 in quarters, before they squeaked South Korea 22-17. But the wins came at a cost for a side debuting five new players as two of their most experienced campaigners, both former captains, Jamie Hood and Mark Wright were knocked out of the final with injuries. The long awaited meeting of the two sides that have dominated Asian sevens for the last decade brought excitement with a ding-dong affair keeping the fans at Kings Park riveted.
The women’s teams in action at the second leg will be Sri Lanka, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea. Sri Lanka will finalize the two teams for Seoul today.
Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2017 men’s standings: 1. Japan, 2. Hong Kong, 3. South Korea, 4. Sri Lanka, 5 China, 6 Malaysia, 7. Philippines, 8. Taiwan.
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