Sri Lanka placed 14th at Monaco

Monaco Rugby Sevens all team captains line up before the kick off

By Shamzeer Jaleel

Sri Lanka sevens outfit under, Sudharshan Muthuthanthri ended as the 14th best team out of the 16 teams who locked horns for the Repechage event for the Rio rugby sevens which took place in Monaco yesterday.  This tournament will pick the winners who will join as the 12th team for the Olympic to compete in the sevens. At the time going for press Spain and Samoa were schedule to battle it out in the finals.

Sri Lanka after their opening day pool encounters were defeated by Germany (42/5), Canada (57/0) and Uruguay (40/14). Sri Lanka were placed 4th in their respective group. Tries were scored by skipper Muthu (against Germany) and Richard Dharmapala, Jason Dissnayake (against Uruguay). Fazil Marija converted both of them.

On day two Sri Lanka performed yard faster when they got their same standard of teams in round two. Sri Lanka were defeated by Morocco 33/14 both Richard Dhamapala and Kanchana Ramanayake scored the tries. Srinarth Sooriyabandara converted both tries. In their next game Sri Lanka playing cohesive rugby edged out Mexico in thriller 22/19 after having a clear 15 to nothing lead at the short breather. Sooriyabandara, Ramanayake (2) scored the tries Sooriyabandara converted two of the tries.

In the play off for the 13th place Sri Lanka was defeated by South Korea 24/31. After the scored were deadlocked at 24 a piece Korea broker free with 2 minutes of play left. For Sri Lanka tries were scored by Dhanushka Ranjan, Richard Dharmapala and Jason Dissanayake. Sooriyabandara converted two of them. at the short breather Korea led 19/14.

 Results day 2 (at the time of going to press)

Challenge Shield

Zimbabwe beat Mexico 19/10, Morocco beat Sri Lanka 33/14, Tonga beat South Korea 41/7, Uruguay beat Tunisia 22/5, Sri Lanka beat Mexico 22/19, South Korea beat Tunisia 33/19

Semi finals

Zimbabwe beat Morocco 26/19, Tonga beat Uruguay 33/12

Challenge Shield final

Zimbabwe vs Tonga 

Championship Cup

Spain beat Ireland 12/7, Russia beat Canada 14/12, Samoa beat Hong Kong 31/12, Germany beat Chile 26/0, Canada beat Ireland 24/19, Hong Kong beat Chile  24/5, South Korea beat Sri Lanka 31/24

Semi Finals

Spain beat Russia 17/12, Samoa beat Germany 26/14

5th place play off

Hong Kong vs Canada

3rd place play off

Russia vs Germany

Final

Spain vs Samoa