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Sri Lanka in shambles at Hong Kong Sevens
By Shamseer Jaleel reporting from Hong Kong
It was perfect setting at the sevens heaven in Hong Kong where the 30th International Rugby Board (IRB) continued yesterday for the second consecutive day at Cause way Bay.Sri Lanka vs Australia

An Australian second –string sevens side brushed aside minnows Sri Lanka in a 8 try display which would have been stopped at “Lemons”had it been a boxing match. The Lankans who were beaten by the Australians heavily in the recent Commonwealth Games in Melbourne were lucky as stars in the calibre of Lotto Tuquire and Chris Latham were not in the Australian list. They were simply too strong for the mis-matched Lankan amateurs, who were blown away and the winners were unstoppable in almost everything they did. The Lankans had only two chances of scoring in the whole game. In one of the incidents Sheriff Salahudeen spilt a golden opportunity when he knocked on just 5 meters away from the try line. The Australians scored 5 tries in the initial half to take the short breather at 31-0.In the second half the Lankans attacked well but lacked finishing touches.

Anura Dharmatilake missed the second chance for the Lankans when he failed to win an own line out ball just 5 meters from the goal line. Amjad Buksh put up a flawless display with some fine run through the Australian defence and side-stepping but lacked support from the rest. In this half the Australians added up a further 3 more tries to notch up a half a century mark.

Referee Christian du Preez
Sri Lanka vs Korea
The Lankans were outclassed and outplayed by Koreans 45-5. Koreans scored 4 unanswered tries in the first half where the Sri Lankan’s cut a sorry figure in front of the packed Hong Kong crowd, played like passengers. At the short breather it was 24-0. In the second half the Koreans scored three more tries with Sri Lanka replying through a solitary try by Sajith Malikarachchi thus conceding 126 points in the three group matches.

Referee Rob Debney
Japan all most shocked the “All Blacks” as they led most part of the 14 minutes 19-17, but the game went down to the wires when the 2006 Commonwealth Games Gold medallist scoring during the last minute of the game to win 24-19.

In another encounter Koreans playing spectacular sevens rugby held the Frenchmen to a 19 all draw. Scotland notched up the highest points for this year’s tournament when they ran riot to score 82-0 win over minnows Singapore in an unmatched one-sided affair.

The Results
Wales beat Portugal 17-14, Scotland beat Japan 33-5, Australia beat Korea 38-7, Samoa beat Italy 47-0
Kenya beat Madagascar 50-0, Canada beat Hong Kong 29-5, Wales beat China 29-0, Scotland beat Singapore 82-0, Australia beat Sri Lanka 50-0, Samoa beat Chinese Taipei 71-0, Fiji beat Russia 47-12, England beat USA 40-5, South Africa beat Portugal 24-14, New Zealand beat Japan 24-19, France drew with Korea 19-19, Argentina beat Italy 29-7, Russia beat Madagascar 40-14,

Hong Kong beat USA 35-12, Portugal beat China 14-12,Japan beat Singapore 52-0, Korea beat Sri Lanka 45-5, Chinese Taipei beat Italy 19-17, Fiji beat Kenya England beat Canada South Africa beat Wales New Zealand beat Scotland Australia beat France Argentina beat Samoa In the Women’ sevens the Lankan girls lost to Australia (26-0), Singapore (24-5), Hong Kong (26-5) and drew with Guam (5-5). In the final New Zealand beat Australia 19-12 to win the tournament.

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