Sri Lankahas climbed close to the top of Asian rugby’s totem pole after beating Singapore 23-16
in a thrilling final of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations Division I tournament
played.In the 3rd/4th place play-off, Malaysiaachieved its primary objective by retaining its Division I status after winning
the relegation match against a young Chinese Taipei XV, 35-3.
After being pushed to the limit against Malaysia in Wednesday’s Semi Final, the hosts
and top seeds Singaporecould not withstand a second charge from Sri Lanka.The visitors turned in a comprehensive
performance in wet and humid conditions at Singapore’s Yio Chu Kang stadium to
emerge as Division I champions for the first time in three years.Sri Lanka will now be promoted to
the elite Top 5 competition in Asian rugby starting in 2011.
Singaporenever looked entirely comfortable this evening, particularly in the back three
as a wet ball and clever kicking from Sri Lankahelped keep the hosts on the back foot and negated the superior size of Singapore’s
forward pack.Matters turned for the
worse for Singapore in the 20th minute as inspirational captain Matt “Rhino”
Ryan limped off with an injury further depleting the team of leadership after
their first choice captain Jonathon Lee was sidelined in a trial match in
Darwin two weeks ago.
From the earliest moments of the match, Sri Lanka’s
kicking strategy and ability to involve its speed and superior handling out
wide had the Singaporeans under pressure. The home side still managed to get
out to a 6-nil lead behind Tom Burns who had another strong match from the
stand-off spot.Burns nailed two
penalties in the first quarter to stake his side to an early lead as they
capitalized on some crucial errors from the Sri Lankans. Among those committing
the errors was eventual man of the match scrumhalf Roshan Weeraratne who was
sin-binned in just the sixth minute.
Burns calmly converted that penalty and made full use of the
man advantage for ten minutes to score 6 early points on the way to a 12-point
day from four penalties.Sri Lanka
replied in the 19th minute with a successful penalty from fullback Saliya Kumara
before Roshan Weeraratne made amends for his sin-binning by knocking over a
crucial drop goal (the only one of the tournament) to level the sides at 6-all.
Sri Lankastruck first after the halftime interval with a second penalty from Kumara
edging them ahead 9-6 in the 43rd minute. Five minutes later, Weeraratne again
popped up, this time finishing off a great roving forward movement to touch
down in the corner for the first try of the game, pushing Sri Lanka ahead
16-6 after Kumara’s conversion.
Full credit to Singapore, as the team finally
started to find its feet in the second half exerting periods of pressure and
enjoying sustained possession for the first time.The reward was a beautiful break away
movement by Singapore’s backs which was capped off by winger Desmond Wee who
took the ball with work left to be done and managed to tiptoe down the sideline
for the home team’s only try of the day and most importantly to get back to
within striking distance at 13-16.
Sri Lankaseemed on the verge of fading as it conceded another penalty this time from 40m
which was beautifully converted by Burns despite the baying of a very strong
and loud contingent of Sri Lankan fans in the stadium. At 16-all with 20
minutes on the clock the action seemed a reprise of Singapore’s earlier match
against the Malaysians where Singapore found just enough to keep their
opposition out of the win column.But
this time it was not to be for the Rugby Lions as the Sri Lankans simply
refused to lose.
The two teams traded possession for the final moments as
both sets of partisan fans in the crowd of nearly 2,000 ratcheted up the volume
and fervour on the sidelines.With
overtime looming rapidly on the horizon, the Sri Lankans broke through into
scoring position after moving Singaporearound the park with some cagey positional kicking. On the last play of
regulation time, the Sri Lankans crashed through a tiring Singapore defence in
a straightforward movement that saw centre Chamara Vithanage charge over in the
corner for a try that broke the hearts of the home team.
Sri Lankanow becomes the 7th team to take part in the elite Top 5 competition since the
inception of the HSBC A5N in 2008. The Sri Lankans will have a year to prepare
for this ultimate test of continental rugby as promotion will take effect in
2011.The 2010 Top 5 features Japan,
Kazakhstan, Korea, Hong Kong and the Arabian Gulf (who replaced Singapore as
the promoted team from the 2009 Division I) and kicks off next weekend (April
24) with matches in Hong Kong (v. Korea) and Kazakhstan (v. Arabian Gulf).At stake in 2010 is Asia’s sole direct entry
to the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand. The runners-up in the
Top 5 competition will play an inter-continental repechage with the first test
against Uruguayin July.
In today’s 3rd/4th place play-off, the Malaysians, who were
narrowly defeated by Singapore22-20 in the semi finals, achieved their ultimate objective beating Chinese
Taipei 35-8. The win not only sees Malaysia take 3rd place in the
tournament but also ensures that they avoid relegation. Chinese Taipei will be
relegated to Division II in 2011 and replaced by the winners of the 2010
Division II championship in early June in New Delhi at the site of the
Commonwealth Games sevens competition. That tournament features top seeds Thailand, China,India and Philippines.
After blooding 12 new caps in the squad of 24 in Wednesday’s
semi-final against Sri Lanka,
Chinese Taipei put in a much improved performance today, particularly
defensively as they managed to hold Malaysia’s powerful backline to a
respectable 35 points. Malaysiafielded seven IRB eligible Fijians in their squad today including the entire
backline outside of the fly-half. The result was a brace of tries to winger
Nacani Seniu and centre Timoci Nacokula as well as another from Isoa Turuva at
fullback.Chinese Taipei answered
through a penalty converted by fly half Lu Wei Fan and a try from flanker Chen
Kuo Lun.
This afternoon also witnessed another A5N milestone in the
first ever women’s test match played as a curtain-raiser to an A5N event with Singapore hosting
their Malaysian counterparts. An entertaining match that saw Singapore take an
early lead into halftime (5-0) but then concede two quick tries to Malaysia in
the second half, had to be abandoned due to a lightning storm. Under the
tournament’s abandonment procedure, the match score stands as it was in the
second half, giving Malaysiaa 10-5 win.
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