Hong Kong bare chinks in Sri Lankan armour
Given little hope of victory against an enormously superior Hong Kong side, Sri Lanka’s rugby team could not come up with a miracle to prove their naysayers wrong, but that did not stop them from trying, as they went down fighting in their 41 (4 goals, 2 tries, 1 penalty) -10 (1 goal, 1 penalty) HSBC-AFRFU Asian5Nations loss, at the Race Course Grounds yesterday.
Sri Lanka will face Japan in Nagoya next Saturday before facing the Philippines in Colombo two weeks later. From next season the number of teams in each Tier will be cut down to three each.
Danushka Ranjan works his way over the line for the Lankans’ only try. Pic by Amila Gamage
After being pulverized in the opening half, the Lankans recovered during the second segment of the game, ending it with a blistering try from Flanker Danushka Ranjan. Ultimately though, that was one of the few bright spots in a dreary drubbing at the hands of a Hong Kong unit which played with absolute virtuosity.
The scorers for Hong Kong were Prop Leon Wei, Fullback Thomas Mccoll, Flanker Matthew Lamming, Flanker Nicholas Hewson and reserve Nicholas Wheatley. Apart from Ranjan’s converted try, Sri Lanka scored their other points through a penalty from Fullback Nuwan Hettiarachchi.
The Lankans were overwhelmed on all fronts; Hong Kong were too fast, too strong and just too good. By the time the game was nine minutes old they had 10 points on the board after outside half Christopher Mcadam had put over a penalty and Wei had bulldozed his way over the line for a try, which Mcadam converted.
The floodgates then burst open, leading to a flood of tries and a 29-0 lead at the half. But the Lankans shifted gears after the break, launching their first legitimate counter-punch in the 66th minute through a penalty from Nuwan Hettiarachchi. Ranjan then added to the resistance as he ducked and weaved his way over the line in the dying minutes of the match to ensure that there was something positive to take away from the one-sided clash.