Former Thomian and present CH and FC third row forward cum Auckland Blues sevens forward Sudarshana Muthuthanthri will lead a young Sri Lanka Sevens squad without the services of their star players in the caliber of Dhanushka Ranjan, Omalka Gunaratna and Jason Dissanayake (side-lined due to injuries) to the upcoming Borneo Sevens Rugby tournament that will take place in Sandakan, Malaysia from 16-18 March. The good news for the Tuskers is the welcome return of diminutive utility three quarter and former Sri Lanka national under 20 sevens captain, Peterite Kevin Dixon to the side after a jaw injury.
The selectors have also drafted in some young players in the caliber of Adeesha Weeratunga (former Isipathana College/Navy SC), Sithum Peiris (ex-Wesley College/Havelock SC) and Buddima Piyaratne (former D.S.Senanayake College/Navy SC) for this tournament. Last year’s tournament was a miserable one for the Sri Lankan Tuskers men’s team as they lost to team “DBKL” in the Plate finals by 15 points to 33.
They were only able to beat Malaysia by 26-5 in the Plate semi-finals in the entire tournament. But it was a different outcome when it came to the Sri Lanka women’s team last year as they claimed their first ever Borneo Seven’s Cup championship after beating Thailand in the final 12-5 under head coach former Sri Lanka national sevens captain Sudath Sampath. Chairman of selectors Michael Jayasekara said, “We are exposing some young players in this tournament especially like Adeesha who has played for the Sri Lanka under 19 sevens team, as some of our experienced players are down with injuries after the local 15 a side tournament. We are targeting the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games and trying our best to see whether we could possibly go for a medal.”
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