Going by the crossovers, new entrants and exodus of players from club to club, Police perhaps have stood to gain more as they look to deploy a star cast of exponents that rival teams may grudge or need to buckle up to challenge.

Like it or not, Havelocks will have to bear the brunt of a Police backlash and face hardcore players like Sharo Fernando, Bilal Hassan, Reza Mubarak and Chamara Dabare who have crossed over from Navy, Mohamed Sheriff and Chula Susantha who quit Army.

“We are expecting our new intakes to take us to the next level with their experience”, said Police Rugby secretary and former Sri Lanka prop Hafeel Marso.

“With these players we are capable of competing against any team in the League and our target is to finish in the top three and that’s not to say we cannot win the title.”

Police have also enlisted a new trainer in former Sri Lanka Number Eight Dushanth Lewke while the team is coached by Lalith Weeraratne with fly half Lahiru Gurusinghe as captain.

Besides facing up to a Police juggernaut, Havelocks will also have to find their feet as they set about to convince their supporters who have had very little to brag about since the Park Club won the League in 2012 after a 31-year lapse.

Flying winger Sandun Herath will have more than just a role to play as he captains Havelocks who have re-enlisted their former charismatic coach Tulagaese Tawita, a Samoan better known as Laga who guided them to the League title in 2012.

Laga will have to be the main driving force behind the scene if Havelocks are to go places and regain lost pride in a season that offers nothing to the lesser mortals and is being touted as anyone’s playground.

“This side is different from 2012. There is more balance and it’s only a matter of motivating them”, said Laga. But while the Havelocks-Police clash is expected to draw most of the fans, Navy and Air Force will actually raise the League curtain on the same day at Welisara in a match that both teams will look to gauge their strengths and weaknesses.

Navy will have to depend on a high element of schoolboys to overcome many voids following the exit of the elite of their players to Police and Kandy.

Among their new faces are former Isipathana College play-maker and Number Eight Omalka Gunaratne and St. Joseph’s College prop forward Steven Gregory.

Apart from Police opening their doors to Navy’s battled hardened players, Kandy have also enticed Srinath Suriyabandara, Soyura Anthony and Wishwamithra Jayasinghe to leave the Welisara club rendering it a team on rough seas under coach Nilfer Ibrahim.

Kandy’s Anurudda Wilwara, Havelock flanker Sudarshana Muthuthanthri and the youngster from CR & FC, Kanchana Ramanayake, all scored twice while Srinath Sooriyabandara also contributed with a try in addition to three conversions in a rousing win.

Sooriyabandara and Muthuthanthri combined brilliantly inside the first three or four minutes of the match to give Sri Lanka an early 19-0 lead taking the game completely away from Malaysia. However, the visitors hit back with two tries in the second half after Sri Lanka captain, Fazil Marija was sent to the sin-bin for the second time on the day. The former Kingswood fly half who was captaining Sri Lanka for the last time chipped in with two conversions, while Havelock outside half Dulaj Perera was taken off following another blow to his injury-prone right knee.

Ramanayake, coming into the team in the absence of Shehan Pathirana who was unfortunately injured during the semi final, bagged a brace, while Sri Lanka’s little pocket dynamite Wilwara once again lit up the Race Course with two astonishing tries where he demonstrated his power and pace.

The Kandy man in fact made the difference in the quarter-final when Sri Lanka knocked out South Korea courtesy of a late try from the former S. Thomas wing three quarter which saw the Tuskers coming back from a 7-12 half time deficit to grab a 19-12 victory sealing a semi-final berth against Japan, despite a yellow card to Marija. Among the other scorers for Sri Lanka in that match was Kandy centre Richard Dharmapala and Havies powerhouse Danushka Ranjan who completed a stunning 75-metre sprint before touching down.

Ranjan again starred in the all important semi-final although Sri Lanka went down fighting against the champions, Japan 26-19 in a thrilling match. The former St. Peter’s centre broke through the Japanese defence twice almost pulling off a sensational comeback after Sri Lanka had conceded a 19-0 lead.

Sri Lanka had an early set back with the tallest of their side Shehan Pathirana carried off on a stretcher due to an apparent injury to his knee before which he created a great scoring opportunity only to be missed by the Havelock captain Sandun Herath who had a disappointing tournament.
Japan came out winners in the final against Hong Kong with a 29-22 triumph to finish on top of the overall standings where Sri Lanka found themselves in the fourth spot in the end.
Sri Lanka women’s team meanwhile lost all of their matches in the tournament to finish last.