Sri Lanka to face Philippines in must-win game

The Sri Lanka rugby team took part in a training session yesterday before the game against Philippines in Taipei

• Asia Rugby Championship Division 1
  
   

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka will lock horns with Philippines at the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 in Taipei Municipal Ground today.

In the second encounter hosts Taipei will meet Singapore. Both these matches (winners) will meet in the final on 1 June to qualify for the Top 3 in 2020. Sri Lanka opted out at the last event was ranked 4th and Philippines are top ranked among the four teams.

As the highest ranked side in the competition, Sri Lanka (44th) will go in as favourites, but the Philippines (53rd), Singapore (57th) and hosts Chinese Taipei (63rd) will have hopes of moving up the rankings with victories in the tournament.

In 2018 Philippines won the tournament beating Singapore 32/24 and 38/2 in a two-legged play-off in Manila. There was no promotion or relegation made last year as Malaysia though ended number 3 survived in top 3 in 2018.

Sri Lanka led by OmalkaGunaratne got 17 debutants at this event as many as 10 players opted out due to injuries in the Inter club tournament as they need time to recover before the Asia Sevens 2019 which will kick off in South Korea during late August.