The pompous boast of Sri Lanka rugby officials went up in flames during the third and final leg of the Asian Sevens in the United Arab Emirates as the team were routed right from the start and ended up in seventh place from among eight teams.
According to statistics the debacle was the worst in recent times with rugby fans in telephone calls to the Sunday Observer calling for the removal of coach Nilfer Ibrahim and changes in the administrative set-up of the sport.
According to analysts Sri Lanka Rugby officials were only good at boasting about their commercial partners at media events and posing for photographs that only inflated their egos.
Statistics show that the current Sri Lanka Sevens team is a far cry from the one that ended up in second place in 2014 under the guidance of coach Imthie Marikar.
Some analysts now say that if no changes are made the Sri Lankan rugby set-up will continue to live on a knife’s edge with everything else well camouflaged while some officials attempt to paint a rosy picture.