SL lasses overcome Malaysia but lose to China

The Sri Lankan lasses pulled off a close 12 (2 tries 1 conversion) to 10 (2 tries) victory over Malaysia in their curtain raiser in the Dialog Asian Rugby Sevens Tournament played at the Dubai Sport Centre grounds yesterday.

Trailing 0-5 within the first five minutes, the lasses bounced back and scored their first try through skipper Dulani Pallekondage, who sneaked through the rival defense to equalize, but Anushika Samaraweera failed to add the extra points, and at the breather, scores were level 5-5.

It was a close tussle in the second half, but Nimesha Wijewardena broke off a ruck to run solo covering 60 metres to score under the posts, and Anushika Samaraweera had no difficulty in adding the extra points.

During the dying stages of the game, the Malaysians scored their second try which went unconverted, handing victory to the Sri Lankans. Meanwhile, in the Men’s game, the Lankan lads fought gallantly to go down by 31 points (5 tries, 3 conversions) to 14 (2 tries 2 conversions) against Japan, after trailing 21-0 at the breather.

The Japanese team was held for the first three minutes but used their experience well to run in three tries in quick succession where all three were converted as they were under the post.

After the breather, the Lankan Lions stormed into the game to score two scintillating tries, hoodwinking the strong defense line of rivals. Sachith Silva and Nisohan Perera planted the tries, and Nuwan Perera made no mistakes with the conversions. In the second game, the Lankan girls were trashed 47-0 by China after leading 26-0 at lemons.