Sri Lanka coach Imthie Marikar believes the national rugby sevens team needs to be motivated for the challenges ahead in the upcoming Carlton Sevens rugby tournament which will be worked off on November 28 and 28 at the Sugathdasa Stadium, in Colombo.

Marikar told ‘The Sunday Island’ that the opportunity presented to the young set of rugby players to represent the country would provide enough clout to trigger the required motivation in his charges.

Critics have already written off Sri Lanka’s chances at this tournament which will also bring the Asian Sevens Series to a close. Sri Lanka’s rugby at present is at crossroads with an interim committee overseeing the administration of the sport and the national team weakened severely with 15 of the best players out of action due to a ban slapped on them.

"This squad would have been the shadow team had the regular national players been available. The average age in the team is 20 years. They might not be the fastest of players but they are all good runners. I think they have a good future in rugby," he said.

Marikar, a former national player in both forms of the game, said that sevens provides players with enough opportunities and one break (run) on the field, by one player, can motivate the others to emulate that feat. He said that when a team comprised of inexperienced players they might have the tendency to hold back, when playing.

"We have made arrangements to have some sessions with the international teams that are expected shortly in the island to contest the tournament. These sessions are going to help the boys tremendously to prepare for the tournament," he said.

Top rugby playing nations like New Zealand, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Fiji have made commitments to send representative teams for the international segment in the Carlton Sevens tournament. Sri Lanka’s training sessions would be done with some of these teams.

"There is little time but we are doing our best to get the best out of the remaining time. It’s a good challenge for all of us. Finally it will all boil down to how the players handle the pressure out there," he said.

Marikar said that the wet weather conditions that are prevailing had hampered training, to a certain degree.

The present Sri Lanka squad for the Carlton Sevens can be rated as one of the most inexperienced sides that have represented the nation in sevens rugby. The preparations for this tournament were hampered greatly due to rugby’s administrators finding it hard to assemble a team earlier due the defence services rugby tournament which absorbed most of the players, named in the national sevens squad.

The team’s fitness is handled by Mohotilal Jayatilake who is working hard with the players to help raise Sri Lanka’s performance on the field. Jayatilake expressed his concerns about the present fitness levels of the squad and opined that the Sri Lankan players should quickly get used to making fitness, a lifestyle, even during the off-season.

The Sri Lanka team, overall, is very inexperienced with only three players, Ashean Karthelis, Dilip Selvam and Chamara Vithanage having represented the country regularly during tours, before.

Sri Lanka is pooled together with South Korea (Winner of the Shanghai Leg) and Pakistan in one group. The tournament also features Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Iran and Jordan.