Malaysians gate-crash Fazil Marija’s farewell party

Asian Rugby Championship Division I 

By Shamzeer Jaleel

Malaysians always focused for the future in the longer version of the game ended the Asian Rugby Championship Division I 2017 on top to earn a play-off against either South Korea or Hong Kong later this year. This encounter will decide the team which will end on Top 3 in Asia for 2018. 

The farewell of Fazil Marija, arguably the best fly half to represent Sri Lanka and Asian famed, was gate-crashed by the hosts with a superb second half rally after the Lankans played well in the first 60 minutes. It was like “winning the battle and losing the war” in the end for the Lankans.

Marija from the Randles Hill school after representing for more than three years at Under 20 level led the team to League and Knockout championship wins under him. Later on he made his debut against Hong Kong as a school boy at Nittawela. 

He represented Kandy SC for 13 long years without shifting clubs even after many clubs offered him big money in order to play for them. He not only led the national fifteens team but also the sevens outfit for many years taking Sri Lanka to the number 3 position in the Asian Sevens circuit.

Sri Lanka lost out on their best Centre, Dhanushka Ranjan in the UAE encounter due to a shoulder injury. Even Richard Dharmapala was forced out by the citing officer and could not represent against Malaysia. 

Sri Lanka fullback Thilina Wijesinghe had a grand outing scoring the highest points of 36 in the tournament with 10 penalties and three try conversions. His defence was rock solid and on attack he joined the three quarter line at every given opportunity. 

Sri Lanka number 8 Omalka Gunaratne too was rock solid in his defence chipping in both forms for the game. Sri Lanka Rugby needs to pump in more funds towards the fifteens game in the country and looks like it has been getting step-motherly treatment when compared to sevens. It is true that in the sevens we have better chance in the Asian circuit but we cannot be written off in the longer version of the game. 

We are at present ranked fifth in Asia and little more hard work and proper training with one coach with sufficient time and forward thinking could take us into the top three in the short-term.