SL to face NZ, England in Commonwealth Games Rugby opener

By Susil Premalal reporting from Birmingham

The Sri Lanka Men’s Team will face New Zealand while the Women’s Team will be up against England in their opening matches of the 2022 Commonwealth Games Seven-A-Side Rugby Tournament, which begins at the Coventry Stadium in Birmingham, England on Friday (29).

The Sri Lanka Men’s Team will come out for the first time at 1.30 p.m. (Sri Lanka time) for their opening Pool ‘A’ fixture and will take on England in their second preliminary round match on the same day at 10.00 p.m. (Sri Lanka time).

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Women’s Team will start their campaign with a Pool ‘A’ game against England at 1.30 p.m. (Sri Lanka time) and will meet New Zealand in their second preliminary round match on the same day at 10.00 p.m. (Sri Lanka time).

The Sri Lanka Men’s Team will play their third and final preliminary round match against Samoa on July 30 at 1.30 p.m. (Sri Lanka time) and the Women’s Team, the only Asian country in this competition, will take on Canada in their third and final game of Pool ‘A’ at the same time.

Australia, Fiji, Scotland and South Africa are the teams vying for honours in Pool ‘B’. The two top teams of each group in the Women’s Tournament will advance to the semi-finals, scheduled for July 30 commencing at 1.30 p.m. (Sri Lanka time).              

The playoff matches for the seventh and fifth places of the Women’s Tournament will take place on July 31 commencing at 10.30 p.m. (Sri Lanka time) followed by the Bronze Medal match and the final encounter.

Meanwhile, the quarter-finals of the Men’s Tournament will be held on July 30 commencing at 10.00 p.m. (Sri Lanka time) while the playoff matches, Bronze Medal match and the final will take place on July 31 commencing at 3.00 p.m. (Sri Lanka time).

New Zealand are the double defending Commonwealth Games champions having won the Men’s and Women’s titles in 2018 at Gold Coast, Australia.

Men’s fixtures (July 29): Australia v Jamaica, Kenya v Uganda, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, England v Samoa, South Africa v Malaysia, Scotland v Tonga, Canada v Wales, Fiji v Zambia, Kenya v Jamaica, Australia v Uganda, England v Sri Lanka, New Zealand v Samoa, Scotland v Malaysia, South Africa v Tonga, Wales v Zambia, Fiji v Canada.
(July 30): Uganda v Jamaica, Australia v Kenya, Samoa v Sri Lanka, New Zealand v England, Tonga v Malaysia, South Africa v Scotland, Canada v Zambia, Fiji v Wales.
Women’s fixtures (July 29): Australia v South Africa, Fiji v Scotland, England v Sri Lanka, New Zealand v Canada, Fiji v South Africa, Australia v Scotland, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Canada v England.
(July 30): Scotland v South Africa, Australia v Fiji, Canada v Sri Lanka, New Zealand v England.