The Malaysia and Sri Lanka Men’s 15s teams have been in camp to prepare for the one-off Asia Rugby Emirates Playoff Match to be held in Colombo at the Racecourse Grounds on April 19 2025 – with the winner earning the right to compete in the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship (AREMC) 2025 which also serves as a Rugby World Cup 2027 qualification tournament.
Update 19 April – Matchday squads and permutations
Malaysia (who we still stand by our previous reports are lucky to have this extra lifeline to compete at the top tier in Asia) have not won a game at the top level since they joined the Asia Rugby Men’s Championship several years ago.
In terms of the World Rugby ranking, Sri Lanka is ranked 40th and Malaysia is 50th. When they last played each other in 2019, Malaysia beat Sri Lanka 31-26, and the Malaysians (known as Bunga Raya 15s or the Hibiscus) also won 22-9 in 2017. Across all games, they have played each other 18 times, and Sri Lanka has won 12 times.
Malaysia Rugby (MR) honorary secretary Fahmy Jalil said in December 2024, when the news of the fixture first surfaced, “Sri Lanka’s current side is quite strong and playing against them will definitely be a tough challenge for us. We had about four or five naturalised Fijians when we last played them. The situation has changed now.”
Malaysia are on a 10-game losing streak in the Asian Men’s Premier 15s championship, in which they conceded an average of 60 points per game in the losses in 2024 against Korea, Hong Kong China, and the UAE. They played warm-up games against local sides, such as Dungun Rugby, Muamalat Bullets, and KL Tigers, in the lead-up to the Sri Lanka test match. Syarif Nurhidayat will captain the Malaysian team.
Several representatives were in attendance at a press conference a week before the fixture, which included: Sri Lanka Rugby President Elect Group Captain Mr. Nalin de Silva, Member of Asia Rugby Executive Committee and Chairperson of Asia Rugby Competition, Mr.Asanga Seneviratne, and Chairman, Sponsorship and Events Mr. Hassan Singawansa.
The Sri Lankan side has not played warm-up games, but the players are coming off the backend of their domestic season, and Nigel Ratwatte will lead the Sri Lanka Men’s Rugby Team at fly-half after his club side, Kandy Sports Club, won the domestic double.
Be the first to comment