Spirited Hong Kong overruns Sri Lanka

Thursday, 25 September 2014 01:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel A spirited Hong Kong Under-20 outfit over ran Sri Lankan Youth rugby team by 32 points (3 Goals, 1 try, 2 Penalties) to 7 Points (1 Goal) in their Junior World Rugby Tournament (JWRT) Asian region encounter which concluded at the Race Course Rugby grounds yesterday. At the short breather Hong Kong led 10-7.

Matthew Worley on his way to score a try. He scored hat trick of tries which helped Hong Kong to beat Sri Lanka 32-7 Sri Lanka played well in the initial 15 minutes with some rock solid defense not allowing the Hong Kong three quarters to move the ball at will. They tackled low and hard. Once again Sri Lanka star was their number 8 Omalka Gunaratne who had a grand game. He split the Hong Kong defense on number of times and looked very threatening in his moves. After even exchanges Hong Kong drew first blood through Jordan Cooper through a sweeping three quarter move with a long pass. The kick by Hugo Chul was accurate to take Hong Kong 7-0. Sri Lanka got two opportunities to reduce the deficit through kickable penalties but Tharinda Ratwatte was off target with both the attempts which was well within his reach. Deep into the first half Tharinda Ratwatte kicking the ball high was chased and collected by Kevin Dixon to touch under the posts. Tharinda Ratwatte added the extra 2 points to level scores at 7-a-piece. On stroke of half time Hong Kong went ahead with a penalty kick by Hugo Chul to take 10-7 at Lemons.

One of the South Korean players in attacking way. Taipei made a major upset win over much fancied South Korea 24-7 After the turn around Omalka Gunaratne was yellow carded for shouldering after tackling a Hong Kong player. This was the turning point of the game; with the loss of Omalka for 10 minutes, Hong Kong moved freely. Hong Kong scored two converted tries through Matthew Worley within a two-minute space to take a sudden lead of 24-7 and then went further ahead through one more penalty by Hugo Chul, one unconverted try by Matthew Worley to give his hat trick of tries to have an easy 32-7 win. Earlier in the day it was a shocking win for Taipei who overcame a much-fancied South Korean outfit by 24-7. The finals day’s proceedings will take place on 27 September between Hong Kong and South Korea at 4:30 p.m., while at 2:30 Sri Lanka will battle it out with Taipei. The team ending on top will qualify for the Youth Rugby World Cup in Portugal while the last ranked team in this tournament will be demoted to Division II for 2015 in JWRT Asia.