All Blacks carried away the Cup championship in the 38th edition of the Hong Kong rugby Sevens tournament beating England 26-07 in a tough final worked off here at Hong Kong rugby Stadium last evening.
It was New Zealand 11th Hong Kong Sevens title and the victory helped them retain the top slot in the World Sevens series table.
Hong Kong is the 7th leg of the World Sevens series.
England, the four time HK 7s winner registered the shock win of the day when they defeated defending champions Fiji in the Cup semi final by 17-7, but could not match the brilliance of Kiwis in the Cup final.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Sevens players who have had a harrowing series were subjected to further humiliation when Samoa recorded a 33-14 win over Sri Lanka. It was a creditable performance given the heavy thrashing, the team had suffered at the hands of Kenya 46-0) Fiji (56-0), and Wales (47-12) but lack of preparation dearly cost them a chance of putting on an improved show.
Against Portugal in the shield semi-finals, Sri Lanka came closer to registering their only win, but Portugal held their nerve to beat Sri Lanka by 24-19 ending Sri Lanka’s miserable run in the series.
“I think we had a better chance of winning both games today, had we played to our potential. But, I suppose lack of proper preparation in the run-up to the series probably cost us dearly in Hong Kong,” said skipper Fazil Marija.
“We were exposed in our defense, even though we played good attacking rugby. We would have avoided these if we had proper pre-tournament training back at home. But, unfortunately it wasn’t the case,” explained Marija adding that it was not easy adjusting to Sevens rugby without proper training after playing 15-a-side club rugby.
Sri Lanka were without— Shenal Dias who was out with an injury after Sri Lanka’s opening tie against Kenya.
“It was a huge blow to lose Shenal,“ said Marija.
Mithun Hapugoda, Srinath Sooriyanbandara, and Sudharshan Muthuthanthri played well for Sri Lanka.
In the Shield semis, Portugal took the early lead with two tries but Fazil Marija scored one under the post to take lemons at 12-07.
Portugal scored again with a try just minutes into the second half to extend their lead 17-7, before Sri Lanka narrowed the gap through their second try through replacement player Dinusha Chathuranga. Srinath Sooriyabandara was right on target with a conversion even though the angel was difficult to make the score 17-14.
But, Portugal again increased the point gap through a try before Mithun Hapugoda scored his third try for the tournament to make the final result 24-19.
In the bowl quarter final, Sri Lanka went down to Samoa 33-14 after leading the first half (14-12). Sri Lanka who faced humble defeats in first round came up with a better game plan against Samoa in Bowl quarters.
But, the second half Samoa managed to bounce back with three more tries to seal victory to advance to bowl semis. Debutant centre Danushka Ranjan scored his first international try in fifth minute after running over 50 metres to touch down at right corner flag and it was converted by Sorriyabandara. It was followed by Srinath Sooriyabanadara who made a quick move and put a dashing 60 metres run to score his first try of the tournament and converted himself to add extra two points.
Meanwhile, Japan managed to earn a berth in the 2015 World Sevens series by winning the qualifier tournament played here at the same venue. They beat Italy in final 26-05.
