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This weekend sees the final stop of the IRB Asian Seven Series take place in Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

It may not be one of the ranking events of the Series but the competition will still be tough with the winner of the Borneo Sevens, Japan, looking to continue their good form against 11 other leading rugby playing Asian nations including China, Korea,Thailand and hosts Sri Lanka.

The overall leaders of the Series, Japan, beat rivals Hong Kong 38-14 in the final of the second of two ranking events on the IRB Asian Series in Borneo, and lost to Korea in the final of the other ranking event in Shanghai.

The winner of the Plate at both ranking events, China, will also be in contention this time round and have been pooled with Malaysia and Brunei.

The Carlton Sri Lanka Sevens will also see two other tournaments running concurrently, a schools competition and an international exhibition tournament, which will help end the successful Asian Series on a high.

The international exhibition tournament sees a host of Sevens talent with Waiseli Serevi’s Papua New Guinea, Australian and New Zealand legends and Samoan Barbarian sides taking to the field.

With one eye on the following weekend’s Dubai Sevens, Fiji will also be using the tournament as a warm-up, with William Ryder being given a chance to show the mercurial footwork we have all been accustomed too.

It will also be an opportunity for South African Renfred Dazel to get some match practice on his return from knee injury for the SA Vipers.

The Asian Rugby Sevens Series was launched in September 2009 with the first event being in Shanghai in September. Two of the five events on the inaugural calendar (Shanghai and Borneo) were awarded official rankings status with the Asian Rugby Sevens Series sanctioned by the Asian Rugby Football Union and International Rugby Board.

Sri Lanka IRB Asian Series Pools:
Pool A: Japan, Kazakhstan, Iran.
Pool B: Taiwan, Thailand, Jordan.
Pool C: China, Malaysia, Brunei.
Pool D: South Korea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.