Surdarshana Muthuthanthri has the honour of captaining Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games this week.
Although the opportunity will be once in a lifetime for the Sri Lankan sides, Muthuthanthri is remaining level headed, with one eye on the Asia Games later this year.
“The Asian Games is our main focus this year. But this will be good experience, and gives us an opportunity to learn and apply our structures.
“The skills will be much higher, the pace of the game will be faster and it will be good exposure for the guys. Our skills will be put under pressure, and it will be a good experience in the atmosphere.
“We just need to stay to our structures, play to our strengths, focus on ourselves and focus on what we want to achieve at the Asian Games.”
There will be no letup from the off, however, for Sri Lanka with their first match against Olympic Fiji who are hot off the back of their fourth successive Hong Kong Sevens title.
Fiji have also won three of the last four series events, leaving Sri Lanka with the unenviable task of facing them first in Australia on 14 April.
“To play Fiji – that will be an amazing experience,” said Muthuthanthri.
“We have been playing with some of them in our local competitions and we have some experienced players who have faced Fiji before.
“There are some boys who have been before to the Games too, but for sure it will be a good experience.”
Rugby isn’t always the first sport one thinks of in association with Sri Lanka – that is normally awarded to cricket.
But with events like this, and their recent performances at the Asia Rugby Sevens Series, it is becoming more well known.
“It will be great for the sport,” added Muthuthanthri.
“Sri Lanka doesn’t get too many opportunities to play at this level so it will be good exposure for us and the country to promote the sport.
“We are known as a cricket playing nation, but rugby is good for us to promote.
“With New Zealand the national sport is rugby, you grow up with it in your backyard. Here it is similar with cricket. Eveyr household plays cricket.
“But to play rugby here, we have seen in the last five to six years how much it has grown. People have embraced it and it has a bright future.”
