Lanka Lions win Cup at Eden Park Sevens Series

Lanka Lions warmed up for the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Tournament by emerging Cup champions in round one of the Eden Park Sevens Series social segment at the Dubai Sports City.

The two-day tournament organised by the UAE Rugby Federation concludes with the second leg in Al Ain on Friday.

Lanka Lions topped their pool with impressive victories over Mediclinic Barrel House 21-7, Beaver Nomads 28-14 and Dubai Hurricanes II 35-7.

They romped past UAE Shaheen, an all-Emirati side 38-0 in the semifinal, before outplaying a South African side Conquistadors 28-0 in the Cup final with Dulanka Gunasekera scoring a brace.

Cup champions in the social segment of the Eden Park tournament in 2013 and runners-up last year, Lanka Lions swept all before them creating a wave of excitement among the community with a fortnight to go for the Dubai Sevens.

“The boys are doing pretty well and we are ready to go for the big one,” said skipper Madisha Silva, who will be leading out Lanka Lions for the third year in the Gulf Men's Open segment at the Dubai Rugby Sevens which takes place on December 3-5.

Lanka Lions coach Richard Murcott was over the moon after savouring success in his maiden assignment.

“It was my first assignment and first outing for the season for Lanka Lions. We went through all the games quite convincingly until the final. Our line was crossed only on three occasions for the entire tournament,” said Murcott who has drilled the Lankan side into a potent unit during the past two months.

“Defence was quite a plus point for us. We've been working hard on that. I told you at the beginning we are going to play a different style this year. We tried it out on a few occasions because we don't want to put all the secrets out at once before the Dubai Sevens. That was one of the key advantages and the new blood in the side they really performed well,” said Murcott.

The players who made their debut for Lanka Lions were Gayashan Wijayasinghe, Dilshan Kelaniyangoda and Akalanka Dabare.

“Those three boys were regular in the side. They came up very well actually and then ofcourse rest of seniors who have been in the team like captain Madisha Silva, Bebo (Hilmy Mohammed), Dulanka (Gunasekera) and Ameen (Jamail). It was quite a good work out,” said Murcott.

Murcott was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Lanka Lions and is ready to take the side to the next level.

“To be honest I was quite confident with the boys going into the tournament. Winning the cup ofcourse was another step. For me, if we had come into the semis I would have been happy,” said Murcott describing the side as a mix of youth and experience

“They played their hearts out and the important factor was even though we gave away a lot on size and physicality, we still outplayed them. Our defence was one of the key areas and the set piece play was fantastic because we were counter rucking. There were many times we had choke tackles done. We held up the opposition play. These areas being weaknesses for us, at least we can see the training has shown results. Our speed factor was also key because we spent time on their fitness and because once we broke the front line it was virtually unopposed,” explained Murcott.

Buoyed by this success, Murcott is asking for more from the Lanka Lions lads.

“For me as a coach, I want another 50 per cent done for the Dubai Sevens. I used this tournament to pick the 12 that is going to go and more or less I’m certain of that 12. We had a squad of about 20 boys so we virtually tried out all the players. This gave us a rough idea of the 12 that will be picked,” he said.

However, Lanka Lions suffered a minor setback with three players suffering injuries forcing the management to skip the second leg of the Eden Park tournament.

“We will not take part in the second leg because we had three injuries which are not serious. Akalanka got concussed, Rilwan, one of our senior players got couple of stitches on his head and Gayashan had an ankle injury during the latter stages. They will be available but we don’t want to risk it playing in Al Ain,” said Murcott.

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