Sri Lanka had arguably the toughest draw in the Cup quarter-finals taking on China who are not an easy picking in the Asian Rugby Sevens arena.
The Chinese who had possession early on in the game used it to good effect as they broke through to score the first points on the board, as the Tuskers seemed to have lost steam very early on.
The Tuskers, who were looking for some inspiration, had it through a very ambitious Srinath Sooriybandara chip that found its way back to his hands. However, the support play by Chula Susantha proved to be costly, as he unfortunately failed to hold on to the ball after doing the initial good work of securing the ball and inching his way past the try line.
However, Shehan Pathirana managed to drag three defenders on to him, as he tried to power his way through. This allowed Lavanga Perera ample time and space to break through the middle, as the Tuskers managed to score under the post, eventually taking the lead through Fazil Marija’s successful conversion. The Tuskers led 07-05 at half time as the game seemed to be in the balance.
China started the second half with great positivity, as they managed to turn over a Sri Lankan line out that eventually led to a unforeseen blind side break that left the Lankan defense in tatters. The Chinese followed another try in quick succession as the Tuskers were slowly succumbing to the pressure with less than four minutes left in the game.
Sri Lanka then capitalized on a mistake by the Chinese scrum half as Sandun Herath flirted his way with the left sideline to blaze through the Chinese defense to put the Lankans within touching distance.
However, the Tuskers failed to find the killer blow as the Chinese defense held out through the rest of the game to shatter the hearts of the Lankans who were looking for their third successive berth in the Cup semi final.
Sri Lanka will play Malaysia at 12.25pm(Local Time) in the Plate Semi Final.
