Asian Five Nations Rugby Division 1 decider:

Lanka goes down fighting to Philippines

By Dinesh WEERAWANSA

Sri Lanka narrowly missed a chance of regaining a place in the top tier of the Asian Five Nations Rugby when they went down fighting to the hosts Philippines 18-28 in their Division 1 tournament match played at Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila yesterday.

The Philippine ‘Volcanoes’ collected their points from two goals, one try and three penalties while Sri Lanka too did well to score one goal, one try and two penalties.

Both teams came in into the big’ un with an unbeaten tag with two wins each over Singapore and Chinese Taipei.

Hence, the decisive game was an exciting affair as everybody expected. It was one of the greatest Lankan fight backs, though they were unfortunate to end on the losing side.

Some quick scoring within the first quarter of the game helped Philippines to take a good 23-3 lead at half time. However, Sri Lanka came back strongly to the picture in the second half and gave some anxious moments to the hosts until the dying stages of the game.

Led by Yoshitha Rajapaksa, former S.Thomas’ and Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club captain, Sri Lanka dished out some attacking rugby in the second half but their effort was not good enough to match the rich harvest the hosts had in the first half.

Sri Lanka took time to settle down as the Philippines made the first blood to take an early 9-0 lead, thanks to three good penalty kicks by Oliver Saunders. The Philippines were off to a quick 6-0 lead by the eighth minute.

Full credit should go to the Lankan team for the courageous manner in which they played against the Philippine team, which had the services of four foreigners, including an Australian, who play top grade rugby in countries such as Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The manner in which Sri Lanka launched a fresh attack in the second half, after trailing by 20 points in the first half, was a courageous effort. Had they found that touch at least by midway in the first half, they would have well ended on the victorious side.

Philippines extended their lead to 9-0 by the 15th minute as Saunders had neat 35m angular kick when a Lankan forward was blown off side. Though five tries were scored in the entire match – three by Philippines and two by Sri Lanka, it took 29 minutes to register the first try of the match. Skipper Michael Letts barreled through the Sri Lankan defence to score a spectacular try which was converted by Saunders as the Philippines extended their lead to 16-nil.

The Volcanoes accounted for their second try of the match when winger Joe Matthews covered 20m after a penetrative three quarter move to make it 23-0 in favour of the hosts. Sri Lanka’s only consolation in the first half was a penalty scored in the 38th minute by Rizah Mubarak. Two minutes later SL got another chance to reduce the deficit with a penalty but Mubarak missed that opportunity. The winners led 23-3 at the short whistle.

Sri Lanka ‘eight’, powered by Namal Rajapaksa, probably the first serving parliamentarian to represent the national team, gave a new life to the game in the second half.

The Lankans scored 15 points in the second half alone, starting off with an unconverted try in the eighth minute after the lemons when Gayan Ratnayake touched down in the 50th minute after an excellent Sri Lankan maul. However, Mubarak failed with the conversion as Sri Lanka reduced the deficit to 8-23.

The second Lankan try was scored in the 63rd minute when Sumeda Malawana touched down. But Sri Lanka failed with the conversion to make it 15-23.

Philippines team was under tremendous pressure at this stage as the Lankan forwards kept on exerting pressure on the home team’s defence. Sri Lanka made several threatening moves at this stage but failed to put the finishing touches as the Philippines defence stood firm. Sri Lanka turned the game even more exciting by the 27th minute of the second half as Mubarak obliged with a penalty.

But Sri Lanka’s dream of bridging the deficit was short-lived as Australian Justin Coveney, playing for Philippine as a centre three quarter, scored that decisive try, almost unchallenged - off a chip by fly-half Saunders.

It was Sri Lanka’s poor place kicking that ultimately made the difference. While failing with two conversions and a penalty attempt, Sri Lanka often wasted good ball by kicking the ball into their opponents’ hands, rather than aiming good kick to touch.

It was a commendable effort by the Philippine which only started playing in Asian Five Nations Rugby in 2008. Since making their debut in division 1V, five years ago, the team from Manila has excelled at every given opportunity and gradually promoted to play ultimately in the premier division from next year. It was Philippines debut in Division 1 while Sri Lanka was relegated to Division 1 this year after a dismal performance in the 2011 Premier Division – three wins and a draw. Yesterday’s loss would mean that Sri Lanka remains in the Division 1 next season too.