Lankans in the second slot yet again
Thilina Wijesinghe handled by Malaysians
Sri Lanka’s solid grip and defence was clinically breached in the final stage by hosts Malaysia to win the decisive Asian Division I Rugby Championship test by 22-9 and clinch the title in Ipoh yesterday. The Tuskers forced the Malaysians to commit errors and took the upper hand of the match as the visitors led the halftime by a whisker at 6-5.
The Malaysians adopted an attacking right from the start but Sri Lanka neatly countered almost all of them to take a close lead and maintain it up until halfway through the second half. Malaysia continued with their assault until Sri Lanka gave them a slight opening to breach the defence and score freely before closing up the game with a tally of three tries, two conversions and a penalty. Sri Lanka scored all their points from three penalties which were put over by the newfound star Thilina Wijesinghe.
With the win Malaysia won the Asian Division I Rugby Championship for the second year running while Sri Lanka had to be satisfied with the runners-up title for yet another year. Malaysia made their intentions clear with an unconverted try by centre Nasalo Mawara to take an early 5-0 lead. Sri Lanka fullback Wijesinghe took a difficult kick 30 metres away from the posts to kick a penalty five minutes later, and made a similar successful effort in the 14th minute to take the lead to 6-5.
With the halftime ending in favour of the visitors, they gave the packed stadium of Malaysian supporters some worries by further expanding the lead in the 56th minute. Wijesinghe’s third attempt was as successful as his previous two as Sri Lanka led 9-5. But a sudden loss of the grip by the Lankans opened room for Malaysia to score twice within three minutes when the clock reached the 63rd minute. Terrence Gawidi and Wong Wie braced a try each as Asyraf Morudin and Aqil Kamsol made the conversions. Kamsol sealed the game by putting over a penalty in the dying moments.