Sri Lanka take on South Korea today
View(s):Asian 7s Second Leg
Sri Lanka will face hosts South Korea in the first semi-final of the Cup Championship at the Second Leg of the Asian Sevens Series at the Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium in Incheon, South Korea. The match will be played at 9.35am Sri Lanka time today prior to the second Cup semi-final between Hong Kong and China which follows after 30 minutes.
If Sri Lanka overcome South Korea, they will qualify to play in their second consecutive Cup Championship final of the Asian Sevens Series against Hong Kong or China at 12.55pm Sri Lanka time. If they fail the Tuskers will still face one of the two teams in the Third Place Playoff at 12.10pm Sri Lanka time. Chinese Taipei and Singapore will play in the first semi-final of the Plate Championship while Japan will take on Malaysia in the second qualifier. The winners will play in the final at 11.45am while the losers play in the Seventh Place Playoff at 11.25am.
Competing in Pool ‘B’ Sri Lanka emerged runners-up losing only to China, who remained unbeaten in the group as hosts South Korea topped Pool ‘A’ with an unbeaten record followed by First Leg winners Hong Kong. From Pool ‘A’ Chinese Taipei and Japan finished one after another while from Pool ‘B’ Malaysia and Singapore completed at third and fourth respectively.
Sri Lanka lost their opening game against China 21-26 after a thrilling battle as the First Leg runners-up were beaten by one of the two unbeaten sides of the competition with a difference of an unconverted try. The Tuskers gained momentum gradually in their games to follow, thrashing Malaysia by 41-5 and defeating Singapore by 27-5. Sri Lanka finished off their pool games with a tally of 15 tries, conceding nine and with seven points. With a tally of 17 points — three tries and a conversion — Sri Lanka’s Tarinda Ratwatte enters the top players’ list at joint eighth with China’s Chong Ma. The list is headed by Hong Kong’s Benjamin Rimene who has 29 points with a try and 12 conversions.
China won all their games — against Sri Lanka (26-21), Malaysia (29-0) and Singapore (43-0) while Malaysia’s only win came against Singapore (12-7). Singapore had a disastrous round with a record of three straight defeats.
Hosts South Korea became the top team to beat after they overcame Hong Kong (28-21), Chinese Taipei (45-12) and Japan (36-5). Despite their only loss to the hosts Hong Kong managed to record resounding wins against Chinese Taipei (47-5) and Japan (57-0) while Chinese Taipei were able to record their only and rare win of the group games against Japan (14-12), who lost all their three matches. Hong Kong won the First Leg of the Series beating Sri Lanka by 22-17 after a thrilling battle.