After an ordinary play in day one beating China 40 – 00 and going down against Papua New Guinea 29-12, Sri Lanka had a real thrashing by the Asian sevens champions Hong Kong and Tonga despite beating Singapore.
Full Time : Sri Lanka 00 – 40 Hong Kong
Tuskers had few chances one from Srinath Sooriyabandara (Soori)and Kanchana Ramanayaka’s break but could not finish it off with tries. Appalling defence by Sri Lanka led Hong Kong Thomas McQueen to score the first try. From the lineout Soori fumbled with the ball and it went to the line however the passes went sloppy as a result McQueen scored his second try.
Hong Kong restart was falling in to the opposite 22m and Tuskers found it difficult and got stuck inside the try line few times. Hong Kong capitalized all the territorial advantage to score one more try before the half time.
Half Time : Sri Lanka 00 – 19 Hong Kong
Kanchana made a solid break to go inside the Hong Kong 22m from the own 22m mark but his pass to Soori resulted in a knock-on. Hong Kong managed to score three more converted tries on Sri Lanka error at the full time.
Sri Lanka lost four out of four against Hong Kong in the last years Asian 7’s Series. However, China on the other hand gave Hong Kong a tough time despite a 24 – 19 loss. Sri Lanka losing without scoring is something unacceptable against Hong Kong.
Full Time : Sri Lanka 47 – 00 Singapore
Sudarshana Muthuthantri started off with a flying run to score in the left flank. Sajith Saranga got injured after holding on to the ball on the ground conceding a penalty. His knee injury looked a bit serious as he was taken in the stretcher. If he is unable to recover within two weeks Navy will miss him badly in the final of Dialog Rugby League match on March 15th.
Dinusha Chathuranga scored after a lovely hands from Ranjan, Kanchana and Soori. Kanchana then scored a dashing run under the post followed by Soori’s goosestep which was too good as Singapore failed to catch him.
Half Time : Sri Lanka 28 – 00 Singapore
Soon after the restart Tuskers showed some improvement in winning the ball. With a Singapore player going to the sin-bin, Ranjan claimed another try picking up a loose ball and running 60m. Soori and Chathuranga combination allowed Chathuranga to score his second try. Mithun Hapugoda scored the final try with a sparkling 70m run.
Full Time : Sri Lanka 05 – 31 Tonga
Tonga opened with a try. The Tusker’s defensive structure looked better but Tonga played more compact rugby with close hits as a result the Lankan defenders could not hold in to their power. Dulaj Perera kicked the penalty in to touch from inside the 22m to gain territory but in the line work did not have much spark as they lost the ball possession. Also an attacking scrum was turned over by Tongan giants.
Half Time – Sri Lanka 00 – 14 Tonga
In the second half Mithun Hapugoda running circles around the Tongans unfortunately just missed beating the last man. Soori with stunning break, sent a low pass to Marija which he sadly knocked-on. Tonga managed to score another try by simply picking up the loose ball.
The highest points scorer of the season Dulaj Perera of Havelocks also had a crunching tackle at him. He limped off and it is not sure how it will going to help when Havelocks host Kandy next week.
Tonga ran two more tries which the Tuskers had no chance to stop. However soon after Marija made a brilliant side step and chipped over the sweeper and Soori chased and scored the consolation try.
Sri Lanka will have a rematch against Tonga in the Cup Quarter final tomorrow at 10 am SL time.
