SLR set to name twenty players for Asia Rugby 7’s Ben Gollings lined up for SL Rugby head coach job

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) have lined up former England fly-half Ben Gollings as one of their top candidates to be the head coach of the Sri Lanka 7’s team ahead of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series set to be kicked off in Korea on September 4.

Gollings, having made 70 appearances for England, holds a staggering point-scoring record of 2652. Since his first assignment as Sri Lanka rugby head coach in 2012, he has gone on to coach in the USA, China and Australia.

One of the most respected and talented coaches, Gollings could take Sri Lanka 7’s to the next level with his style of coaching. However ‘Daily Mirror’ reliably learns that his selection is subject to a formal consideration and approval of the SLR Technical Committee, headed by Ajit Abeyratne.

SLR, though having missed out on the opportunity to host the second and third legs of the tournament, are set to send a team. As a first step, the SLR selection committee headed by Asoka Jayasena, have selected an unofficial twenty-member squad, which is to be kept in a biosecure bubble in preparation for the tournament in a timely manner. It is learnt that this step is in line with the guidelines given by the High Performance Unit of the Ministry of Sport aimed at facilitating funding required for the purpose of getting the game off the ground.