Day 1Sri Lanka crash to 7-29 defeat at the hands of UAE

Nishon Perera wards off a Japanese player

By Ranil Prematilake in Dubai

Host nation and newcomers to the top division of Asian men’s 7’s rugby United Arab Emirates (UAE) inflicted an embarrassing defeat on Sri Lanka last evening at the Dubai Sports City Ruby Stadium. In a display of total dominance, the UAE ran in five tries to which Sri Lanka could only respond with a solitary try by Janidu Dilshan. The result effectively knocked Sri Lanka out of Cup Competition contention.  

However, Sri Lanka women held on for a close 12-10 win over Malaysia in their opening game of the Asian Sevens Series 2021 yesterday. A blistering 60 m run by Skipper Dulani Pallikkondage gave Sri Lanka the lead through an unconverted try. However, the Malaysian girls drew level by half time. 

Sri Lanka shot back into the lead when Nimesha Wijeyawardana hit a gap following a ruck to touch down and the try was converted by Anushika Samaraweera, which turned out to be the winning effort. A late try by Malaysia once again unconverted condemned them to defeat.

Second game for the Sri Lankan women against China was a mismatch to state the least. Barring the first couple of minutes where Sri Lanka enjoyed decent possession, the rest of the game was a chasing act with China exhibiting a seven try avalanche. Chinese women were in a different league speed and physicality wise in recording the emphatic 47-0 win.  

Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan men could not get their campaign underway in similar fashion to that of the women and were struck down early well and truly by the Japanese who ran in three unanswered tries in the first half to lead 19-0. The latter half belonged to Sri Lanka, so to state. 

A couple of converted tries, one of which was the last move of the game, could not make any material impact on the result of the game. Tries for Sri Lanka were scored by Sachith Silva and Nishon Perera with the conversions coming off the boot of Nuwan Perera. The final score line read 31-14 in favour of Japan. 

Results

• Women’s: Japan beat Kazakhstan 21-07, Thailand beat Philippines 31-05, China beat Hong Kong 22-05, Sri Lanka beat Malaysia 12-10, Japan beat Thailand 17-05, Kazakhstan beat Philippines 48-00, China beat Sri Lanka 47-00, and Hong Kong beat Malaysia 54-05 
  
   
• Men’s: Hong Kong beat South Korea 14-07, Philippines beat Malaysia 19-12, Japan beat Sri Lanka 31-14, China beat UAE 29-17, South Korea beat Philippines 46-00, Hong Kong beat Malaysia 40-00, Japan beat China 26-00, and UAE beat Sri Lanka 29-07 

Action from the Sri Lanka and Malaysia game - Sportsphotography.lk

Action from the Sri Lanka vs. UAE match