Sri Lanka finish Asian Sevens South Korean leg second

Hong Kong with the Championship

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Sri Lanka Sevens outfit once again ended runners-up to Hong Kong in the Asian Sevens 2016 rugby circuit second leg, played at the Nam Dong Asiad Rugby Stadium in Incheon, South Korea yesterday. 

Unfortunately Sri Lanka could not replicate the good form they had shown throughout the tournament in the Cup finals as they were mauled 36-0 by a strong Hong Kong side. South Korea had to satisfy themselves with a third-place 29-12 play-off victory over China. In the women’s segment of the tournament, China’s girls showed a marked improvement in their performance as they overcome Japan 21-14 in the Cup finals.

Hong Kong dominated proceedings in the men’s Cup finals by scoring six answered tries, three in each half, after leading 19-0 at halftime. With this win Hong Kong will carry forward 24 points from both legs, followed by Sri Lanka on 20 points. Sri Lanka will not only need to win the third leg in Colombo but will also have to keep Hong Kong out of the Cup finals.

After a Day 1 defeat to China, the Sri Lankan outfit put up a brave effort against South Korea in the Cup semifinals after the Koreans beat the strong Hong Kong outfit on the first day. They opened scoring when Richard Dharmapala covered nearly 40 meters before sending Saliya Handapangoda over the try line. Tharinda Ratwatte added the extra two points. 

The next minute of play saw the South Koreans hitting back through a strong run only to see Lankan skipper Dhanushka Ranjan coming up with an excellent cover tackle to keep them away from scoring. 

The Koreans kept on attacking the Sri Lankan goal area but through a knock-on advantage Sri Lanka won the ball, enabling Saliya Handapangoda to kick, chase and score under the posts to give Ratwatte an easy conversion and hand Sri Lanka a 14-0 lead. On the stroke of halftime the South Koreans hit back through a Jae Bok Lee try.

After the turnaround Dhanushka Dyan covered nearly 40 meters to touch down near the right corner flag. Srinath Sooriyabandara missed the difficult conversion. South Korea, who were under severe pressure, were warned several times for illegal play and had one player sent to the sin bin. Taking advantage of this situation, Ranjan danced his way through to score. Ramanayake added the extra two points. The South Koreans scored a consolation try through Nam Uk Kim to have the final score reading 26-10 in Sri Lanka’s favour.

Japan opted to field a second string outfit for the men’s segment and paid a heavy price for it when they ended the tournament seventh, sitting above only Singapore. The third and final leg of the Asian Sevens will now move to Colombo in mid-October.           

 Men’s

Final

Hong Kong beat Sri Lanka 36-0

Semifinals

Hong Kong beat China 29-0, Sri Lanka beat South Korea 26-10

Third place play-off

South Korea beat China 29-12

Plate semifinals

Taipei beat Singapore 41-7, Malaysia beat Japan 20-10

Plate final

Malaysia beat Taipei 21-17

7th/8th place

Japan beat Singapore 24-21

 Women’s

Final

China beat Japan 21-14

Semifinals

Japan beat Thailand 29-0, China beat Hong Kong 40-5

Third place play-off

Hong Kong beat Thailand 28-12

Plate semifinals

Singapore beat South Korea 26-10, Guam beat Uzbekistan 42-0

Plate final

Singapore beat Guam 10-5

7th/8th place play-off

South Korea beat Uzbekistan 29-0