Sri Lanka were beaten by Chinese Taipei by 35 Points to 23 and lost its chance of being on top of the Asian 5 Nations division II tournament here today. Taipei led at 27-6 at half time, but a second half rally by the Lankans saw them narrowing the gap to 16-27 at one stage and then to 23-32 at another stage. During injury time which lasted over 12 minutes the Taipei team increased the lead to win by 35 points to 23.It was the inexperience, specially among the backs that once again lead to the defeat of the team that took wrong options of not getting away from the danger zone but opting to run the ball. The team was good man to man but seemed to lack cohesion of having not played together. The defeat however does not spell doom but only a set back of a side that has the talent among the backs but need to play and work on the strategy to win.

Under 20 sevens in Lanka

News is also that the ARFU council has approved Sri Lanka bid to host the Under 20 Seven a side tournament to be held in April 2009. This would need all shoulders to be on the wheel to make it a success as the opportunity was given despite there being an Interest shown by Singapore who decided not to proceed having being convinced by the President and the CEO of the SLRFU who attended the ARFU council meeting.