The Tuskers could only beat the minnows Singapore and China in the group stage and lost twice to Papua New Guinea and Tonga and once to Hong Kong in the first ever Asia/Pacific cross country sevens in Sandakan – Malaysia.
Plate final
Full Time : Sri Lanka 07 – 33 Papua New Guinea (PNG)
Tuskers had plenty of chances to score but fell short with massive defensive work by the PNG players. Sri Lanka managed to keep ball in hand for at just 3 minutes of play before PNG scored an early try. Sandun Herath made a great but ended up popping the ball to a PNG player on a fine tackle. Sudarshana Muthuthantri used the debutant speedster Anuradha Herath outside him in the wing as Anuradha made a sparkling run and fell-off a tackle. The loose ball was picked by Kanchana Ramanayaka who ran from the right corner to the left but did not have enough gas on him to finish as he fell off a tackle. PNG scored a try from the breakdown play.
Half Time : Sri Lanka 00 -14 PNG
The Tuskers winning the restart with the kickoff Anuradha showed his brutality by powering in to two defenders and his off load found Srinath Sooriyabandara to score the try. Sandun Herath made another fabulous break but yet again he could not hold on to the ball when he got tackled. PNG powered with three more tries in the second half and Sri Lanka did not have a solution to stop them.
Cup semi-final
Full Time : Sri Lanka 17 – 26 Tonga
The Tuskers gave everything against the physical Tongans unlike in the group stage match where it ended 31 – 05 defeat. Good signs for Havelock SC as their star Dulaj Perera was back after a minor injury yesterday against Tonga. Allowing space in the defence led Tonga to score the first try. Anuradha Herath has proved why he was included in the squad as fended- off two big Tongans and made a solo try. With Soori’s conversion Sri Lanka led 07 – 05.
Restart went deep in to opposite 22m but Tuskers defence was poor as Tonga scored another try. Anuradha made another break beating his opposite number. Sandun and Mithun Hapugoda did some great handling skills with continuous scissor passes as a result Sandun scored a try. The restart did not go 10m Tonga took a free kick tap and run which stopped in the try line. Once again defensive line allowing space Tonga scored another try. Mihun scored the final try which was a bit lucky as it actually looked like a knock-on in the try line.
Nevertheless, Tusker went to this tournament with only three training sessions and also it was in the middle of the Dialog Rugby League. Players were spent and it could be argued that the best men did not or were not permitted by their clubs as a big clash between Navy SC with vs Kandy were on the cards for March 15. The Navy captain Sajith Saranga is now having a serious knee injury and could possibly have to stay out. Debutant CR duo Anuradha Herath and Kanchana Ramanayaka had decent performances and this experience will bring them a loads of confidence. Sri Lanka also ranks fourth in the Asian region in this format of the game.
Cup Finals
Hong Kong v Tonga
Asian champions Hong Kong narrowly lost to Tonga 21 – 19 in the group stage. Nevertheless, ruthless Hong Kong displayed a stunning performance as they revenged the mighty islanders scoreless. Full Time – Hong Kong 24 – 00 Tonga
China beat Singapore 31 – 07 in the bowl finals
Japanese women beat China in the cup finals in this inaugural Asia Pacific Cross Regional Sevens Tournament. Full time Japan 22 – 07 China
