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Sri Lanka are facing some difficulties ahead of the final round of the IRB Asian Sevens Series next weekend at the home leg the International Carlton Sevens in Colombo (28-29 November).

Many of the players expected to represent the natioal side have been in joining up with the squad with 15-a-side commitments, with players from the Army and Navy NOT available for practices due to a Defense Services Tournament.

“You have to understand that the Defense Services tournament was organised at the beginning of the year,” said Dr. Maiya Gunasekera who is the Chairman of the Interim Committee of Rugby in Sri Lanka.

“These 7s tournaments were confirmed only mid-way through the year. I am not making any excuses for these players. But they are in training anyway.”

With players in Sri Lanka facing a strenuous work load in keeping commitments for both forms of the game, Dr. Gunasekera has welcomed the notion of players solely focusing on Sevens.

"I think rugby is getting to a stage where like in cricket there are players who specialise in the shorter form, so too in rugby players might choose to concentrate on sevens only. If some players decide to be specialist sevens participants, it would be welcomed by us.”

With the players arriving late to camp Sri Lankan fitness trainer, Mohotilal Jayatilake, has been pushing the side hard to get them prepared for the event.

"This is an international tournament and fitness plays a major role. Just about 40% of the squad has reached the desired fitness levels. The rest haven’t done enough training during the off season," he said.

Jayatilake said he is also concerned about the slow recovery rate in players after strenuous training sessions.

"When the fitness levels are down, fatigue level sets in fast. The advantage in being fit is one can recover fast after training," he said.

Asian heavyweights Japan and South Korea along with leading Asian rugby playing nations Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, China, Thailand, Malaysia will all join Sri Lanka in the 12 nation Asian International Sevens. Korea (Shanghai) and Japan (Borneo) have won the only two IRB Asian Seven Series that have counted as ranking events so far this season.

The likes of William Ryder and Renfred Dazel are due to appear at the international exhibition rugby tournament involving Australian Legends, Fiji Barbarians, New Zealand Legends, Papua New Guinea, South Africa Pool and Western Samoa Barbarians.

This weekend also sees the Kish Island Sevens which will see the national sides of Iran, Georgia, Jordan participating.

Carlton 7s Sri Lanka

Asian competition:

Pool A: Japan, Kazakhstan, Iran.

Pool B: Taiwan, Thailand, Jordan.

Pool C: China, Malaysia, Brunei.

Pool D: South Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.