Asian Rugby Championship Division I: Lanka finishes second again

The Sri Lankan rugby outfit under Roshan Weeraratne once again ended the Asian Rugby Championship Division I in second position behind Malaysia. 

This is a repeat of last year’s finish. Sri Lanka, look likely to stay in Division I for a long time, while the Malaysians will play either Hong Kong or South Korea for promotion into the Asian Top 3 in 2018.

Sri Lanka, after leading for almost 60 minutes of the game, were brushed aside in the last 20 minutes of play when the hosts ran riot to win 22-9 at Ipoh Stadium in Malaysia. Malaysia scored through 2 goals, 1 try and 1 penalty while the Sri Lankan outfit scored three penalties off the boots of fullback Thilina Wijesinghe’s boots.

Malaysian with Asian Rugby Championship Division I trophy

The Malaysians scored first through Centre M. Nasalo but Wijesinghe reduced the lead through a penalty kick at goal. Wijesinghe put over his second penalty give his team a 6-5 lead. At the breather the score remained at 6-5 in the Sri Lankans’ favour. Ten minutes after the turnaround Wijesinghe was accurate with his third penalty to take Sri Lanka further ahead 9-5. But Malaysia hit back through Centre T. Gavidi’s try. S Kimal added the extra two points to take the lead to 12-9. Malaysia scored their third try through Winger W. Wong with Kimal adding the extra points to push the lead to 19-9. Within the space of another five minutes he put over a penalty to take an unassailable 22-9 lead.

Sri Lankan skipper Roshan Weeraratne sends out a pass

The Malaysians fielded a number of young Fijian players in their starting line-up with the requirement formerly being that a player had to stay three years in a particular country. This law was enforced by the then International Rugby Board (IRN) with the Sri Lankan rugby authorities failing to take advantage of it. But recently World Rugby changed the rule by increasing it from three to five years. Sri Lanka played without Dhanushka Ranjan while this was Fazil Marija’s last fifteens game for the country. The loss did not make for a satisfying send-off. The game was refereed by Taku Otsuki from Japan.

Philippines beat the UAE 34-26 in the earlier game. In this tournament Sri Lanka beat the Philippines 24-13 and the UAE 33-17. Malaysia finished first with 14 points followed by Sri Lanka (9) and the Philippines (5) while the UAE failed to open their account. 

UAE will be demoted to Division II in 2018 while the Division II winner in Taipei will be promoted to Division I. Sri Lankan fullback Wijesinghe, who made his fifteens debut for the country, was the highest points scorer in the tournament with 36 points (10 penalties and three try conversions). (SJ)

Sri Lanka number 8 Omalka Gunaratne who had a grand game on attack against Malaysia with support coming from Sayuru Anthony