The Sri Lankan women’s Rugby team struggled on day 1 but somehow salvaged a good win over the hosts South Korea to finish in 3rd spot in Pool D on day 1 of the Asia 7’s Women’s series.
The hosts were struggling from morning and it was the clash for the 3rd spot between Sri Lanka and South Korea. The first half was intensely physical and evenly matched between the two sides. Both teams were pampered in their previous games but they showed good intensity right through the game. It was the Lady Tuskers who drew first blood in the first half with an unconverted try by winger Thanuja M. She stepped around the defence line and ran all the way to get the lead for the Lankans just before half time.
Half Time : Sri Lanka 5 – South Korea 0
2nd half was much more intense with the home side pulling out all their strings to get some points to their name. Their determinations paid-off as the Koreans took the lead in the second half through a converted try by Gwen Selogi. The Sri Lanka women’s team was under the pump and that’s when they pulled off every ounce in their tanks to get back the lead. It was Dasuni Thommadura who came from the bench to score a brilliant try under the post to win back the lead for the Lady Tuskers. She showed good steam down the corner and ran around the Korean defence.
Sri Lanka put the nail in the coffin in the dying moments of the game with Anusha Mudiyanaselage going over the line to score the 3rd try. Good physicality was shown by the ladies and they will go on to face Kazakhstan in the quarter finals tomorrow.
Full Time : Sri Lanka 17 – South Korea 7
Early on, the Sri Lanka women’s rugby sevens team started off the day in horrific fashion as the Chinese beat them 33 points to 12. For the Lankans, Dulani Pallikondage and Ayesha Madduma scored tries while Ayesha Kaluarachchi got a conversion under her name.
Their 2nd game for the day was played against Hong Kong and they managed to put up a better fight this time around. Even though they could not score any points, the Lankans showed grit and much better discipline on the field. The final score line stood at 28 points nil in favour of Hong Kong.
