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Nimble footed Lankans show ‘em how
Sri Lanka-34 Singapore-17
By Rangi Akbar
Singapore’s national symbol is a lion. So is Sri Lanka’s. Singapore, meaning the Lion City symbolizes courage, strength and excellence. However the Sri Lankan lions showed that they were faster and fitter as Sri Lanka pulled off a 34-17 win over Singapore in their Rugby World Cup Asian Zone qualifier played before a large gathering at Longden Place yesterday.

Sri Lanka held on to a slender 13-12 lead at the breather. Sri Lanka’s points were made up of four goals and two tries and Singapore’s points consisted of one goal and two tries.

Sri Lanka came into contention when they beat Thailand in their earlier WC tie played in Thailand and with that the interest on the Singapore game began to mount. The Singaporeans were reported to have televised the Sri Lanka vs Thailand game in order to find chinks in Sri Lanka’s armour. In that game Sri Lanka’s weak point was the forwards as they gave away yards and pounds. A colleague who saw the Singapore players just before the match yesterday said in awe: ‘Looks like we are in for a bashing today.’ But little did he know that size hardly matters in rugby. Sri Lanka’s forwards fought with valour and strength to weaken the Singapore side while the three-quarters dazzled. When ever the three-quarters were in possession of the ball, the writing was on the wall for Singapore!

It was not all that simple for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the toss and put Singapore on the hockey ground end to face the sun after the men that matter --Hemaka Amarasuriya (Singer) and Kishu Gomes (Caltex) met the players.

In the opening minutes Sri Lanka had a golden opportunity of scoring when full back Thushara A. Silva was awarded a penalty. He missed this sitter to the utter dismay of all those present. However he made amends in the 13th minute when he booted over a 35 meter penalty to put Sri Lanka ahead at 3-0. Singapore was awarded a try for an infringement when the promising Ismail Mohammed scored far right. Ismail himself converted and Singapore took the lead at 12-3. Centre Viraj Prasanna was sent to the sin-bin for this set back.
Then came one of Sri Lanka’s dazzling moments when co-centre Chamara Vithanage showed a clean pair of heels to score under the posts after a short burst. There were several moments of anxiety when the crowd was kept guessing but saner council prevailed as the ball changed hands ending with Vithanage falling over. Trusty T.A. Silva was on target with the conversion. . Singapore - 12. Sri Lanka - 10.

In the 37th minute T.A. Silva put over a penalty and Sri Lanka took half time with a slender lead of 13-12.` The second half saw the Singaporeans wilting under pressure. With the kick off itself winger Sanjeewa Jayasinghe scored after Pradeep Liyanage had made a break. Silva put over and Sri Lanka increased their lead to 20-12. Singapore showed there was still some pluck in them when centre Ismail Mohammed scored an unconverted try. This is as far as the Singapore scoring went.

Dushantha Lewke, playing a knowledgeable game at No 8,figured prominently next when he made a break and passed over to scrum half Amjad Buksh and the ball in turn whizzed over to Pradeep Liyanage who made a bee line to score under the posts enabling T.A. Silva to convert. To rub salt into the wound Pradeep Liyanage made his hat-trick to score under the posts with a deceptive run and Silva converted to seal the issue at 34-17.

Referee: Takashi Harada of Japan.
*The Caltex League resumes next week and next Saturday’s game will be the CR vs Havelocks game at Longdon Place starting at 5 p.m.

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