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Lanka confident of beating S'pore
by Lal Gunasekera
Sri Lanka, full of confidence after their 48-38 victory over Thailand at
Suphanburi about a couple of weeks back, look confident that they could pull
it off against Singapore at Longden Place on Saturday (June 25) in their
Rugby World Cup (Asia qualifying) second-round game.
In the qualifying games played last year (2004), Sri Lanka, trounced
India 54-17 at Bombay and then beat Thailand 35-14 at Longden Place.
Chief selector, Dr. Maiya Gunasekera, told the Sunday Observer that Sri
Lanka may field the same 15 that played against Thailand, although some
players are yet having the bruises sustained against the Thais. Sajith
Mallikaaratchi will continue to be captain.
He said "we have a better set of forwards and will go in with four props.
Against Thailand we took three.
We also possess a more mobile third-row and a efficient back-division and
I am confident we can win. It will be a tough game as Singapore may field a
few New Zealanders resident in that country, but I am confident, Singapore
beat Thailand 47-27 in Singapore earlier.
Dr. Gunasekera further said that if Sri Lanka does win this game with
Singapore, they will be within the first six in Asia and will have to meet
either Guam or Kazakhastan in the next round. The countries ahead of Sri
Lanka at the moment are South Korea, followed by Japan, Hong Kong, China and
Chinese Taipei.
Earlier, New Zealander George Simpkin, who is Sri Lanka's coach, was
expected to relinquish his duties after the game against Singapore, but now
I understand that he is to be asked to "stay back" till the Asiad in Colombo
next year (2006) and a request is to be made to "come down on his
requirements". C.P. Abeygunawardene is his assistant.
The final Sri Lanka side is to be named on Thursday (June 23). They will
be picked from: Props - P. Ranaweera, Nalin Ekanayake, Saranath Hettiaratchi,
Hooker - Viraj Prasanna, Anuranga Walpola, Second-Row - Senaka Bandara, A.
Dharmatilleke, Third-Row - Dushan Lewke, Pavithra Fernando, D. Wijesekera,
Rajiv Ganapathy, Scrum-Half - Amjad Buksh, Zulki Hameed, Fly-Half- Tuan
Fazil, Asanga Rodrigo, Wingers - Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Chamara Vithanage,
Centres - Sajith Mallikaaratchi (captain), Pradeep Liyanage, Rajith
Jayasundera, Full-Back - T.A. Silva, Danushka Pushpakumara.
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