“We had ample possession to win”: SL Head Coach Matt Lee

Sri Lanka Rugby tour of Malaysia

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Rugby Head Coach Matt Lee speaking exclusively to Daily FT said: “We are now back at training with all 38 players from the original selection. We have a few slight injury concerns but at this stage everyone is available for final selection of 26 players for the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 in Taipei. Looking at a camp during the final week of preparation before flying out on 26 May will be ideal.” 

Lee, the New Zealander, the former Trinity Head Coach and current XV’s Head, added: “Speaking about the Malaysian game on 4 May, I am proud of the effort, frustrated by the result; we had enough ball, enough field position and enough opportunities to win but our decision-making under pressure didn’t turn breaks into points. We need to capitalise on critical moments, which is imperative for the Sri Lankan National XV Squad if they want to break back into the top tier of the Asian Rugby Championship following our narrow loss to Tier 1 side Malaysia during our recent tour with one win and one loss against selected Malaysian sides.

“Despite starting well and leading 6/0 we didn’t convert our good work into points by not playing to our game plan and patterns of play for the various zones we had identified and trained for in the lead up to the tour. There are a lot of things we’ve been working on which showed throughout the game but we let them back into the game when we made three to four mistakes from which they converted into tries when opportunities were presented for them from our poor decisions, pushed passes, missed touch and turnover ball in our own 22 was too costly.”

The effort of the Sri Lankan players could not be questioned during a tough period when they conceded 21 points in eight minutes. If not for a try saving tackle by Thilina Wijesingha we could have been further behind on the scoreboard. He praised the midfield players, Dinuk Amarasinghe and Kavindu Perera, who put big shifts in defending against the two Malaysian Fijians operating in the middle of the field.

Lee speaking further said: “Set pieces, we dominated throughout the match; we were unlucky not to be awarded for our effort with more penalties due to infringements by the Malaysian players pushing the laws. From a strong scrum platform Omalka Gunaratna was able to carry and get us over the gain line consistently to set up our phase attack plays.

“We had two opportunities early in the second half with a Ashan Bandara breaking and offload to Mithun Hapugada and then a Sudhakara Dikumbura break with an attempted infield pass to Lasindu Ishan but our decision-making under pressure didn’t turn breaks into points. Then late in the game when Buddimma Piyaratna made a break and kicked across field, we had no one tracking up the middle to put pressure on the kick.

“Naturally we were pretty disappointed with the loss; we felt we were right in it up to the end of the game when our lineout drive suddenly collapsed by the opposition’s illegal tactics, which was not penalised, but again we just didn’t capitalise on our opportunities when we had them under pressure. Lack of experience and understanding of how to direct a team around the field was a concern.”

This team had a record 21 players making their debut for Sri Lanka. This shows a lot of youth on tour than experience which was a good platform of exposure at Asian level for the youngsters. Some good fitness and better decision making ability are likely to take Sri Lanka to greater heights in Taipei later this month. Hopefully two wins will earn them a berth in the top 3 among South Korea and Hong Kong in 2020 in a home and away league where they will need to play four matches two each against Hong Kong and South Korea. This will be one match each at home and other away, giving equal opportunities to all teams to have a home 50% advantage.