By: Shamseer Jaleel

Apr. 30 (Daily Mirror) - Kazakhstan had a great start to the Asia Rugby Division 1 Championship opening encounter when they edged out a spirited Qatar outfit by 33 points (five tries and four conversions) to 31 points (one penalty try, three tries, three conversions and one penalty) in a thriller at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo.

At half time Qatar led 21-14. It was not a fluent game but was too tight in the end. Qatar outfit’s line-out really put them on the wrong side of the book in the end.

They lost two certain try scoring opportunities within the 10-metre mark of the opposition when they failed to win the line-out ball.

Kazakhstan too had number of errors but they never gave up and fought till the end. Physically, they played a better game being yards faster at breakdowns.

Qatar opened scoring through a penalty try in the second minute of the game but the lead was short lived as Kazakhstan hit back through Grigory Litvinov and was converted by Abdrakhman Nazhbayev.

After some even exchanges Kazakhstan scored their second try through Alexey Lukmanov with Nazhbayev adding the extra two points to take a 14-7 lead.

A few minutes later Qatar equalised through a Wade Lotter try and a Brook Tremayne conversion. Qatar, with a momentum took the lead through a Lliesa Rakabu try and a Tremayne conversion.

After the turnaround, Kazakhstan scored through Abdrakhman Nazhibayev to cut the deficit by two points. But Qatar went further ahead through a Johann Henry Bezuidenhout try amd a Brook Tremayne conversion.

Kazakhstan came back strongly scoring through Roman a Chsherbakov try. Though it was Qatar leading 28-26 the Kazakhstan team never gave up.

Qatar went further ahead with a Brook Tremayne penalty. Kazakhstan equalised a through Alexander Lymar try ad Nazhbayev conversion.

Though Kazakhstan came several times close to the Qatar try-line they failed to find the whitewash but it was enough for them to book their final berth on May 4.

The game kicked-off with an one-hour delay due to lightning in around the ground.

Referee: Ishanka Abeykoon 

Pix by: Kushan Pathiraja