The Asia Rugby Championship division one category was played today at Royal Selangur Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Hosts Malaysia were too good for Sri Lanka as they eased passed with a 42 (T5, C4, P3) to 17 (T2, C2, P1).
Sri Lanka the defending champions struggled against Singapore in their first game where they had to fight hard to a 33 – 17 win. Malaysia on the other hand could not beat the Philippines as they went down 15-10 in their first game. Tuskers kicked off today’s game as favourite’s but poor performance did not allow them to settle down.
Sri Lanka Points Scorers:
Kavindu Perera 1T, Buwenaka Udangamuwa 1T, Rizah Mubarak (1P, 2C)Malaysia Points Scorers:
Muktee 1T, Saukuru 1T, Jamaludeen 1T, Asraf Rosli 1T, Roslan 1T, Sudin (P3 C3), Kamsol 1C
Six Fijians were in the starting lineup for the hosts with the giant No8 Etonio Sakuru doing the most of the damage for the Tuskers. Three of them started among the forwards and the other three in the center pair and the full back.
Malaysia scored the first points through Sudin’s penalty kick in the second minute. Lankan set- piece, defence and the ball handling was below par and not up to international standards. Hosts gained territory and created momentum as they scored in the 6th minute through their skipper Ashraff Rosli. (Sri Lanka 00 – 10 Malaysia)
In the 9th minute Rizah Mubarak made a difficult kick look easy to open the score for the Tuskers. Unforced errors by the islanders resulted in chaos as Malaysians controlled the play well and they managed to score every time they entered the opposite red zone. The Malaysian lineout in the 13th minute foxed the defenders as colossal Sakuru went through the gates of the 6 men standing at the line out wall to score the second try. Sudin converted the extras. (Sri Lanka 03 – 17 Malaysia)
Despite having a very flat attacking line, Malaysia still managed to break the first defense on many occasions. Rizah Mubarak saved a try as he screeched to a halt at the foot of the camera man just after the deadline. No8 Sakuru made a few threatening runs but the Lankan defense allowed him to score only once.
Nevertheless, it took 28minutes for the big lock Jason Melder and Dhanushka Ranjan to put the first touch of the ball. One fine lineout by Achala Perera and the collection by Jason Dissanayake led the captain Sudarshana Muthuthantri to control the driving maul. But ultimately it was Kavindu Perera who touched the white wash. Mubarak bisected the two points. (Sri Lanka 10 – 17 Malaysia)
The Malaysians stormed passed Lankan territory several times attacking from inside their own 22m. Just before half time, an infringement in the breakdown gave another three points to Sudin who had a great game with his boots.
Half Time : Sri Lanka 10 – 20 Malaysia
Coach Johan Taylor once again made the quick changes as Dushmantha Priyadarshana, Ganuka Dissanayake, Prasath Madusankha and Chanaka Chandimal replaced Jason Melder, Kishore Jehan, Achala Perera and Banuka Nanayakkara respectively.
Tuskers had a fortunate second half start with a 30m driving maul but could not make it count for points as they knocked it on. Since then Malaysia had the better of the remaining minutes. A peach of a 45m penalty by the little Sudin added another three points for the hosts.
Big center Mawara Nasalo made a stunning break inside their half and the offload to the captain was one of the best moves of the match which unfortunately the skipper couldn’t score off as his butter fingers caused a knock-on just by the 5m. But that effort was not in vain as Badrul Muktee managed to score the third try from a poor Tuskers’ lineout. Sudin made the extras look easy. (Sri Lanka 10 – 30 Malaysia)
Malaysia exploited every single opportunity and the Lankans had to scramble in defense. In the 65th minute, a lovely blind side move and an offload by the lock forward Dineswaran Krisnan to the winger Mohamed Faris was too good a finish. Sudin missed his first kick of the day from the corner.
75th minute lineout gave a consolation try for the No8 Buwenake Udangamuwa as he controlled the moving maul to touch down. Mubarak made the extras but the restart was a penalty after Malaysian lock Krisnan received a yellow card arguing with the referee on the earlier try. Although Mubarak kicked out on the full, Tuskers lost the lineout and Malaysia hit back with a lovely run by Nasola who then off-loaded to Jamaludeen to put the icing on the cake for the hosts.
Full Time : (Sri Lanka 17 – 42 Malaysia)
ThePapare Player of the match : Etonio Sakuru (Malaysia No8)
Sakuru was a key weapon to break the defence and he made loads of yards and dragged many defenders to him which created space out wide for the Malaysian attack.
Omalka Gunarathne was effective for the Tuskers doing most of the hard work including a couple of powerful fend-offs on the big Fijians. As a team Tuskers did not have a strategy or perhaps they did not exploit the strategy if they had one. Poor defence and understanding among the players was yet another blatant school boy- type error.
This is how the table stands with one more game left
Sri Lanka will play the Philippines on 14th Saturday and to defend the title they have to win with a big margin including a bonus point and that might not be enough if Malaysia did the same against Singapore. However, Singapore made a shocking display to beat the more fancied Philippines in the first game today as they won with a narrow 28 – 24 points. As a result all four teams have won a match each and it will all depend on the bonus points and then the number of points will count.
Interestingly going into the championship Sri Lanka’s world ranking was 38 whilst Malaysia held the 60 position. This loss may cause a drop in the rankings for the Tuskers.
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