Sri Lanka Men’s and Women’s win Plate in Korea

By Shamzeer Jaleel

Sri Lanka men’s and women’s rugby outfits claimed Plate (5th position) at the Asian Sevens 2017 second leg at the Namdong Asiad Stadium in South Korea yesterday. South Korea shocked Japan (17/12) in the Cup final while the Japanese Women’s outfit accounted for the Cup when they edged out the Chinese Women’s team 19/14 in the finals.

 Sri Lankan men’s outfit under Sudahrshana Muthuthanthri will be a disappointed lot with the final outcome not being able to enter the semi finals of the second leg as well. After the first days play Sri Lanka missed out on avoiding Hong Kong in the Cup quarter final encounter. This was due to the draw against China (26/26) and a close finish against Taipei (26/24) which gave the Chinese outfit the second place ahead of Sri Lanka plus an easy quarter final encounter against Malaysia.

Sri Lanka playing against Hong Kong in the Cup Quarter finals went down once again 31/12 after being 17/7 down at the short breather with skipper Muthuthanthri touching down once. After the turn around Hong Kong, who looked unstoppable, scored two converted tries whereas Sri Lanka replied with a Sooriyabandara try. After being relegated to the Plate segment Sri Lanka handed off Philippines in a one-sided affair 42 to nothing scoring two tries in the first half and 4 in the latter half. Dhanushka Dyan, Naveen Heenakankanmge, Dhanushka Ranjan (2) and  Jason Dissanayake (2), scored the tries. Chandimal and Dixon did the conversions.

Sri Lanka handed off Malaysia 43/7 in the Plate finals showing that they are more suitable for a top 4 finish. Sooriyabandara, Dyan, Ranjan,Jason, Tharinda and Hirantha (2) accounted for the tries. Chandimal put over the try conversions on 4 of them. Both Ranjan and Jason scored 6 tries a piece in the tournament in South Korea.

The final leg will now move to Colombo at the Race Course rugby grounds on 14 and 15 October with Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea on the run for a top two finish. Top two finishers (men’s) in the three leg event will book their berth for the 2018 Sevens Rugby World Cup (RWC) and Hong Kong Sevens 2018. Sri Lanka’s glimmer of hope faded away further with their back to back 5th position in the first and the second leg. The gap looks too wide for the Colombo leg.

 Men’s quarter final

Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 31/12, Japan beat Philippines 34/5, South Korea beat Taipei 52/7, China beat Malaysia 36/10

Cup semi finals

Japan beat Hong Kong 19/7, South Korea beat China 33/12

Cup final

South Korea beat Japan 17/12

3/4th place play off

Hong Kong beat China 22/17

Plate semi finals

Sri Lanka beat Philippines 42/0, Malaysia beat Taipei 26/21

Plate final (5/6 place play off)

Sri Lanka beat Malaysia 43/7

7th play off

Philippines beat Taipei 47/5

Women’s quarter finals

Hong Kong beat Thailand 19/15, Japan beat South Korea 53/0, China beat Singapore 31/0, Kazakhstan beat Sri Lanka 27/7

Cup semi finals

Japan beat Hong Kong 28/0, China beat Kazakhstan 17/14

Cup final

Japan beat China 19/14

3rd place play off

Kazakhstan beat Hong Kong 24/7

Plate semi finals

Thailand beat South Korea 26/7, Sri Lanka beat Singapore 19/15

Plate final (5th place)

Sri Lanka beat Thailand 24/12

7th place play off

Singapore beat South Korea 17/12