Sri Lanka sevens rugby team led by Fazil Marija won the Shield Championship of the Commonwealth Games 2014 beating Trinidad and Tobago in the final by 43-7 points at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.
Sri Lanka participating in the Commonwealth Games Rugby 7s for the 3rd time had a disastrous start to their campaign losing to Australia by 62 points to 7 on Saturday afternoon. The Australians were stunning with their power packed 7s play and they were very accurate with their passes as well. Cameron Clark scored a hat-trick while James Stannard touched down twice for the men in gold.
After conceding 50 points, Sri Lankan Tuskers showed their true colours when dashing wing-three quarter Sandun Herath scored a stunning try in the 2nd half with only 3 minutes left to play and to the huge delight of the large crowd. The Lankans worked the ball from their own 22’ to score a memorable try against the Bronze Medal winners, Australia.
Lankans failed to impress once again when they went down 57 points to nil against plate championship winners, England in their 2nd game of Group D on Saturday. Englishmen scored 9 tries with 6 conversions to make up their 57 points. Defending against world-class players such as Dan Norton and Tom Mitchell, Tuskers were not up to the standards as many tackles were missed.
In their final match of group D, Sri Lanka went down to the fighting Uganda outfit by 14-17 points after leading 7-0 at half-time. 20-year old Richard Dharmapala and ever-brilliant Srinath Sooriyabandara touched down for the Tuskers as Uganda outran the islanders in the 2nd half.
After 3 disappointing losses on Saturday, Sri Lankan Tuskers went into the bowl championship quarter-final clash against Papua New Guinea on Sunday. South Asia’s Sri Lanka with a rich rugby history of over 100 years lost another key battle against Pacific Ocean’s Papua New Guinea by 17 points to 12. The two tries for Sri Lanka were scored by Dinusha Chathuranga and Danushka Ranjan.
Four straight losses meant Sri Lanka will be competing in the bottom-level Shield Championship, late on Sunday afternoon. Asia’s 3rd best sevens outfit, Sri Lanka finally found their winning ways beating Barbados by 34 points to nil in the shield championship semi-final.
Anurudda Wilwara, Sandun Herath, Fazil Marija, Richard Dharmapala scored a try each for Tuskers while Danushka Ranjan scored two tries. Sri Lankan coach Stefano Cakau seemed to have instructed the players well as they used the tactics of less contact brilliantly against the big-made players from Caribbean Island. The Lankans scored 17 points on each half to sum up their clinical performance.
With the high hopes of bringing back some glory to their country; the Indian Ocean islanders proved too good in the final, beating Trinidad & Tobago 43-7 points with Captain Fazil Marija scoring 16 of their points including 2 superb tries. Srinath Sooriyabandara was another standout performer scoring 2 tries while the other 3 tries were scored by Richard Dharmapala, Shehan Pathirana and Anuruddha Wilwara. Sri Lankans never let the opposition off the hook as Tuskers used their biggest strength of speed and agility to great effect. The Lankans were terrific to watch as they completely outclassed Trinidad & Tobago after leading 24-00 at half-time stage.
Under cold conditions in Scotland, Sri Lanka sevens rugby team once again went through another great experience going head to head with the likes of England and Australia. Sri Lanka could have pulled off wins against Uganda and Papua New Guinea but it was not to be as Tuskers went on to winning only the shield championship.
