Sri Lanka make history in stunning turnaround in triangular
View(s):Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson who is credited with saying “A week is a long time in politics” must have played rugby in his younger days for the turnaround by Sri Lanka in less than a week in the Serendib Cup showed what can be achieved in this amount of time if your heart is into it.
It was clearly evident that Sri Lanka was lacking match-fitness in the humbling 17-12 loss to Madagascar in the IRB-sanctioned triangular which kicked off last Saturday at the Racecourse grounds.
But Friday night’s 26-25 victory over Poland proved the benefits of having one hard game under your belt. It just goes to show that if Sri Lanka were battle-hardened entering the competition, this historic tournament would have been ours for the taking.
As an idea, this tournament is the right way to go. The only way Sri Lanka rugby can raise its stock in Asia is by playing regularly against opponents who are ranked above them in the IRB world rankings.
Sri Lanka stunned top-ranked Poland to finish behind the eventual Dialog Serendib International Cup winners Madagascar in Colombo. - Pic SLRFU
Yet, Madagascar was ranked five places below Sri Lanka – 44 to our 39 – and the commonly held view was that we would get the better of the African nation. Sadly they proved us wrong.
Poland, ranked 28, would on paper have been a harder nut to crack. But Namal Rajapaksa and his men were able to pull off a stunning victory, coming back from trailing the visitors 13-15 at halftime to pull off what will go down as a landmark victory in the history of the local game.
Let’s analyse the 17-12 loss to Madagascar first. Not being a witness to the match, all I can go on is the reports by my colleagues and it seems the universal feeling was that Sri Lanka looked disjointed. A common thread was that our ball handling was poor with passes being spilled and poor ball retention.
The latter is a key aspect in the modern game which relies on multi-phase attack as a side tries to draw in the defence and create space which it can take advantage of. This in essence is the simple goal of rugby.
But to achieve this you must be able to hang on to possession. If you squander it then you are up against it and can only hope to capitalise on your opponent’s mistakes and score against the run of play.
The facts speak for themselves. Four penalties converted by the solid Reza Mubarak was all that Sri Lanka could manage on what was supposed to be a day to celebrate the country’s first game under floodlights at the new home for rugby.
The failure to score a try speaks volumes. It was either a solid defence that stopped us or in turn our attack lacked the creativity, something made harder if you don’t hang on to the ball.
Also the fact that we conceded three tries is another blow. As I have mentioned before, be it sevens or 15s, defence is crucial. The world’s best teams all pride themselves on being able to turn defence into attack at the drop of a hat (I won’t say ball for that would be rubbing it in).
A dynamic defence can even make up if your team is struggling to win primary possession in the set pieces – the lineouts and scrums. If you can turn over ball at the breakdown and counterattack, holes will appear in the defence. And as we all know, from broken play, Sri Lanka can be deadly for we have talented backs which can pick holes in the defence like a Pettah pickpocket.
But to create such opportunities, we have to rely on structured play and be in the face of the opponents defensively. We cannot afford to miss first-up tackles for once momentum is gained, it is hard to slow down your opponent.
All in all, it seemed as if both in defence and attack we were caught short-handed. And this takes me back to my original assertion that we obviously lacked match-fitness
While the idea of this tournament must be lauded, it is perhaps a tad too early coming as it is in pre-season. With the domestic club rugby season beginning only next month, it is fair to assume the players were not at their peak.
There is a huge difference between being fit and being match-fit. You can be free of injury at the start of the season and be honed and buffed in the gym but there is no substitute for what you will face in a real-match situation.
It would have been far better if the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union had organised this tournament in mid-December after the players had been hardened by one month of tough domestic rugby.
The whole idea behind this triangular was not only to raise the profile of the game but to also help Sri Lanka’s preparations towards the HSBC Asian Five Nations Top Five competition.
This tournament is scheduled for May-June and will double up as Asia’s qualifiers for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Sri Lanka, who won Division One this year and qualified into the elite company, will be up against Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the Philippines.
The triangular with Madagascar and Poland was supposed to give an idea of where we stand and what needs to be done. Clearly plenty of work remains to be done but the win over Poland will raise the morale of the side and will infuse self-belief. To beat a side ranked 10 places above them in the world rankings is a massive feat and it says a lot for the courage and determination of the team, especially to come back from defeat.
The end goal must be to stay in the top flight in Asia. To achieve this, all we need is to win one match and our best hopes will be to target the Philippines or South Korea, especially if the latter don’t include their squadron of players who feature in the Japan Top League.
One thing is for certain, by the time the Asian Five Nations rolls along, our players will be sharp with the season just behind them. And despite the Madagascar setback, they will be buoyed by the Poland result.
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