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The Hong Kong U 20 men’s team
By Shamseer Jaleel
The Sri Lanka youth rugby outfit led by Kevin Dixon created Sri Lankan rugby history by winning the country’s first major trophy at the Asian level.
Its previous most successful outing came at the 1983 Hong Kong Sevens when the Lankans, led by Hisham Abdeen, claimed the competition’s Bowl.
Hong Kong’s Under-20 Sevens team won the Asia Rugby second leg in Hong Kong at King’s Park by beating the 2016 series champions Sri Lanka in the Cup final 36-10. But although Hong Kong won the second leg they finished third in the series behind South Korea and Sri Lanka. This was the first time in two seasons that Hong Kong had relinquished the Asian title. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Women’s Under-20 outfit finished second in the 2016 series behind Thailand after losing the three-match series two games to one.
Hong Kong looked much stronger and more organised while the Sri Lankan outfit seemed tired and disorganised in the lead-up to the Cup final. The home team scored three unanswered tries to enter halftime leading 19-0.
Even after the turnaround Hong Kong scored freely thanks to some poor defence from Sri Lanka. With two minutes to go before the final whistle it was 31-0 in favour of Hong Kong. But then Sri Lanka hit back when Omalka Gunaratne and Shamry Burah broke free to score two consecutive tries. However, it was too little too late for Sri Lanka as Hong Kong ran away 36-10 winners. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka won the overall series after emerging champions in the first leg in Malaysia.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka edged out South Korea 19-12 in a thriller. Sri Lanka scored first through skipper Kevin Dixon, who converted the try himself to give his team an early lead. But this advantage was short-lived as the South Koreans scored two back-to-back tries to take a 12-7 lead into halftime.
In the second half Sri Lanka scored through the lanky Buddima Piyaratne with Dixon on target with the kick at goal. Skipper Dixon, who was returning after missing two games with an injury sustained on the opening day, put the icing on the cake with a final try which sealed the game 19-12.
Men’s
Taipei beat Singapore 38-0
UAE beat Thailand 21-5
Singapore beat Thailand 21-5
UAE beat Taipei 19-10
Semifinals
Sri Lanka beat South Korea 19-12, Hong Kong beat Malaysia 2614
Third place play-off
South Korea beat Malaysia 24-12
Final
Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 36-10
Second leg Rankings
1) Hong Kong
2) Sri Lanka
3) South Korea
4) Malaysia
5) UAE
6) Taipei
7) Singapore
8) Thailand
Women’s (three matches between the two sides)
Thailand beat Hong Kong 19-7, 15-10
Hong Kong beat Thailand 10-0
