Sri Lanka went down against a physical Chinese outfit 27 points to 12 in the 3rd/4th play-off of the Asia 7s 3rd leg played at the Racecourse stadium. The Tuskers had hopes of finishing third but they lost the plot in the last few minutes of second half as China ran away victorious.
Sri Lanka secures a Cup semifinal berth
Sri Lanka began the second day in similar fashion as Day 1 by thrashing the UAE outfit 35 points to 10 to qualify for the Cup Semifinal.
Buddima Piyarathne ripped through the UAE defense to open up the scoring, then it was Riza Raffaideen who destroyed the UAE line as he picked up a cheeky back of the hand pass from Jason Dissanayake and scored for the Tuskers.
UAE hit backed with a try as Connor Kennedy benefitted from the unforced errors made by the Tuskers.
Riza Raffaideen managed score his second try as he found a small gap in the UAE defense and went over to score under the sticks.
The tries kept on coming as Iroshan Silva and Sudaraka Dikkubura went over to ensure a semifinal spot in the Cup segment for the Tuskers with a comprehensive win.
Full Time – Sri Lanka 35 – 10 UAE
Sri Lanka thumped yet again by Japan
Sri Lanka kept their impact players on the bench as they looked to keep them fresh for the third place playoff game but the youngsters struggled against a much bigger Japanese outfit. Added to this, a few lapses in defense paved the way for a try fest for Japan.
Day 1 Report: Tuskers to play for Semifinal spot; Bad day on the field for the Ladies
Chihito Matsui and Taichi Yoshizawa were the chief scorers for Japan as both of them scored two tries each. Yoshikazu Fujita, Jose Seru and Naoki Motomura also managed to find the white wash as Japan scored 7 tries to which the Tuskers had no response.
Full Time – Sri Lanka 00 – 45 Japan
Sri Lanka lose the plot against China
China started the game 3rd place playoff on a high and were too fast for the Tuskers. Quick hands from the Chinese ensured that Junkui Liu touched down in the far corner to open the scoring. A few phases later the Tuskers lost Iroshan Silva as he was sin binned for a late charge. China kept on attacking and were rewarded when Bowei Jia scored the second try.
Kevin Dixon kept Sri Lanka in the hunt as he managed to gain a valuable 60 meters as he ran through the Chinese line; a cheeky offload to skipper Danusha Dayan ensured that the Tuskers opened their account.
China continued their usual playing pattern, scoring their third try through Luda Liu just before the half time breather.
Rugby World Cup Fixtures in local time
The second half began with a superlative try from Buddima Piyarathna where he turned on the gas and ran a good 50 meters to score under the post as the deficit went down to five.
China replied through a team try as they used the full width of the field and Luda Liu went over for his 2nd.
Sri Lanka lost the plot in the dying stages in the second half, conceding again as Bing Gao overpowered the defenders and went over the line to secure the game.
Full Time – Sri Lanka 12 – 27 China
Sri Lanka Women survive in top division
After losing out to Hong Kong 22 points to 10 in their last group stage game, the Lady Tuskers went down surprisingly to Singapore in their Plate semifinal encounter 29 points to nil and had to win their last game against Malaysia which was played for the 7th & 8th playoff to stay in the top division. Fortunately they were able to do so, winning 17 points to 7.
Sri Lanka conceded an early try when Norfarahana Aziz opened up the Sri Lankan defense but it was the Tuskers skipper Sanjeewani De Silva who lead from the front as she scored the first try in the must-win game.
Dulani Pallikkondage brought some hope for the Sri Lankans when she ran around the Malaysian line to score a crucial try to get the momentum back towards the Lady Tuskers.
Sri Lanka dominated the second half as they kept the ball with them and they sealed the game through a try from Anusha Attanayake where she found some space and barged through the last Malaysian defender to ensure that Sri Lanka stayed in the series for the next year.
Full Time – Sri Lanka 17 – 07 Malaysia
