Sri Lanka in impressive wins against China and Kazakhstan
Sri Lankan rugby sevens team under Fazil Marija advanced to the quarter-final of the Cup Competition against Malaysia at the second leg of the ARFU Asian Sevens series 2014 at Stadium Petaling Jaya in Kuala Lumpur. Sri Lanka won both their Group ‘B’ matches against China (33-22)
Srinath Sooriyabandara’s (in pic) return and the inclusion of Fiji-born Emori Waquvulagi to the Sri Lankan Sevens team made a big impact as they scored three tries a piece in the two games played yesterday – File pic
and Kazakhstan (38-17) to remain unbeaten on the first day.
Sri Lanka will face Malaysia in the Cup quarter-final today in the opening game of second day. Sri Lanka’s match against the hosts will be at 12.00noon local time and a win will see them taking on the winner of the second quarter-final between Hong Kong and Singapore. The last time both teams confronted each other was in Hong Kong and Sri Lanka won both the outings without much trouble. The top three teams above Sri Lanka in the series, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan also have reached the quarter-finals.
Sri Lanka was at full strength for the second leg in Malaysia with the return of star scrumhalf Srinath Sooriyabandara who missed the Hong Kong stopover due to an injury. Emori Waquvulagi also made his sevens debut for Sri Lanka and had the honour of scoring the first try for his adopted country in the opening game against Kazakhstan.
Sri Lanka started their group encounters against Kazakhstan by scoring in the third minute through Waquvulagi as Marija added the extra points. Three minutes later Srinath Sooriyabandara showing a fine pair of legs scored under the posts after a clean break off and offload from Waquvulagi for Marija to add the extra points.
Sooriyabandara who had a grand game dummied a few defenders before touching down for his second try after running over half of the field. Nigel Ratwatte added the extra points to take the short breather at 21-7 after Kazakhstan retaliated with a converted try. After the turnaround Kazakhstan scored twice with the Sri Lankans replying with three tries through Marija, Danushka Ranjan and Anuruddha Wilvara.
In the last group game Sri Lanka was on the back foot from the start when the China scored two early tries. Sri Lanka came back with impressive tries by Marija and Waquvulagi to reduce the deficit to 14-17. A few seconds before halftime Waquvulagi scored his second try to take the Sri Lankan lead 21-17. After the turnaround China scored a try and Sri Lanka replied with two tries through Shehan Pathirana and Sooriyabandara to win the game 33-22 and push China to second in the group.
After the first leg, Hong Kong lead the ARFU Sevens Series with 12 points followed by South Korea (11), Japan (10) and Sri Lanka (9).
| Results Day 1: Thailand beat Philippines 14-7, China beat Kazakhstan 26-0, Singapore beat Taipei 33-0, Malaysia beat UAE 29-7, Hong Kong beat Thailand 45-0, Sri Lanka beat Kazakhstan 38-17, Japan beat Taipei 40-0, South Korea beat UAE 48-0, Hong Kong beat Philippines 31-0, Sri Lanka beat China 33-22, Japan beat Singapore 52-0, South Korea beat Malaysia 33-5. Today’s lineup: |