Sri Lanka embarrassed in South Korea

Harsha Amarasinghe

Sri Lanka Rugby hit a new low as they finished sixth in the Asia Sevens Rugby Series second-leg losing the Plate Championship final to the Philippines 17-19 in the playoff encounter concluded in South Korea yesterday (30).

Sri Lanka let slip away a 17-7 lead as the Philippines put more misery on Sudharshana Muthuthanthri’s team which had failed to seal a place in the Cup semi-final after defeats to Hong Kong and South Korea in the group stage.

The Tuskers were in total control of the fifth-placed encounter courtesy of tries from Srinath Sooriyabandara, Dinuk Amarasinghe and Sudam Sooriyarachchi who had put Sri Lanka on course, but a late onslaught from an impressive Philippines side left them red-faced.

In the Plate semi-final, Sri Lanka edged-out Malaysia 17-12 in another unimpressive performance after losing their final group stage game against South Korea 14-22.

On Saturday Sri Lanka outclassed Chinese Taipei 33-12, but were beaten 14-31 by Hong Kong in their first group stage matches.

Japan the Asian giants claimed the second-leg after beating Hong Kong 28-19 in the Cup final while China sealed the third-place beating South Korea 31-12.

It must also be stated that Sri Lanka landed on South Korea only on Friday with two games being scheduled for Saturday.

One could assume that jetlag also had some sort of influence in Sri Lanka’s dismal performance as they should have at least landed in there on Wednesday evening.

It is widely known that the South Korean Visa process takes about a week and hence Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) should take responsibility for this.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Women’s Team managed to salvage some pride as they emerged Plate champions beating Malaysia 22-5 in the playoff.

Thanuja Weerakkody lived up to the expectation crossing the whiteline thrice in leading them to what eventually turned out to be a comfortable win.

They beat Singapore 15-10 in the Plate semi-final after losing to Japan (0-41) and Hong Kong (0-41) in the group stage.

Their only victory in the group stage was registered against South Korea (22-5).