Confident Sri Lanka takes on the Philippines in ARC Division I final

Sri Lankan prop forward Kishore Jahn in full attack mode

Sri Lankan skipper Fazil Marija avoids a tackle 

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Philippines and Sri Lanka booked their spots in the Asia Rugby Championship Division I final today with wins over Singapore and Kazakhstan respectively at the new Philippine Sports Stadium outside the Philippine capital of Manila. 

Sri Lanka will meet the Philippines in the final while Kazakhstan will play Singapore in the third-place playoff. Both games will be worked off in Manila today.

Sri Lanka were made to work hard for their 35-14 win over Kazakhstan, despite playing with an extra man for most of the match after Kazakhstan’s hooker Rustam Kurbanov was shown a red card for stamping on a Sri Lankan player. 

After Sri Lanka scored two quick tries through Lavanga Perera and Danushka Ranjan, Kazakhstan rallied for a massive effort despite losing another player when a yellow card was given to flanker Daulet Akymbekov, sending him to the sinbin. Sri Lanka could only manage one more try in the first half with Ranjan crossing over.

Kazakhstan’s Captain Serik Zhanseitov pulled his side back from the brink with a try and then later on in the second one was scored by Prop Ruslan Galiyev, scoring off a set piece to cut the deficit to 22-14. Sri Lanka then increased their lead through two penalties from Kanchana Ramanayaka and Dulaj Perera to 28-14 before Perera scored another try to further extend their scoreline cushion.

“It wasn’t perfect but the main goal was to win and we achieved that so we will look at the positives and erase the negatives from this afternoon,” Sri Lanka Coach Johan Taylor commented. 

“I thought our handling was pretty good and we did reasonably well in our scrums and line-outs against a bigger Kazakhstan pack. We did well in those three areas and I’m fairly happy with our performance,” Taylor added. 

“We did well and I am happy with the performance against the bigger Kazakhstani outfit. They play very rough at times and this resulted in two of their players getting booked. We have seen our errors and worked with the team with the help of Coach Taylor, who has been very supportive and calm ahead of today’s final against the Philippines,” stated Sri Lankan skipper Marija. 

“The boys never felt under pressure and they kept their cool and played a good team game. This shows the maturity of the players after a hard, long club season.” 

The winners of Division I will play the third-placed team in the Top 3 segment. This will be an away game for today’s Division I winners which will be played on 6 June.