CH, Navy embarrassed failing to make Cup Final Air Force beat Police 24-0

Spotlight on selectors after Kandy omission

Nuwan Perera, captain of the winning Air Force ‘A’ team (C) lifting the Warrior Trophy Rugby 7’s powered by Dialog with the winning team

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Air Force SC defeated Police SC 24-0 in the selection trials played at Police Park yesterday. The tournament organized by Police was first introduced as Invitational Rugby Sevens which would then become Warrior 7s where over ten national players were not allowed to take part despite numerous attempts to participate following Kandy SC’s refusal to send a team.

Air Force should take so much pride in their victory, but the highlight of the evening is that the star-studded CH & FC and Navy SC teams could not even make it to the cup final.

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) stated previously that none of the players from Kandy SC would be able to feature in the Sri Lanka squad for the upcoming Asia Rugby Sevens Series because they were unable to take part in the tournament which has now been won by a bunch of players from Air Force SC.

Some believed that this tournament was considered as a selection trial so the selectors could pick CH & FC and Navy players with Kandy stars not in the picture, but how could selectors now pick the majority of players from CH or Navy who could not even beat Police or Air Force to at least take part in the final?

Sri Lanka have brought in a top-class coach in Ben Gollings who, as SLR President Rizly Illyas described, ‘wouldn’t come at a cheap price’ but he is now facing the prospects of having to work with arguably a ‘C’ or ‘D’ team.

If the national pool which would soon be picked is not dominated by the winners of the trials, Air Force SC and runners-up Police SC, the rugby fraternity of Sri Lanka would know what is happening to rugby in this country.