Sri Lanka protest against controversial referee

Sri Lanka has lodged a protest against the controversial conduct of the international referee who blew at yesterday’s Asian Five Nations Rugby tournament match against Philippines at Race Course.

Sri Lanka was on the verge of a memorable win to remain in the top group by the regular full time, leading by 25 points to 19. But the referee gave an unusually long injury time of as many as nine minutes, much to the surprise of all knowledgeable local rugby referees and the experts of the game.

Certainly, there wasn’t that much of injury time and at one stage it appeared as if the referee was extending play until the Philippines scored their match-winning try.

Even when the Philippines scored the last try, Sri Lanka was leading by one point before the conversion.

The place kicker of Philippines missed the conversion but referee decided to give him another chance, alleging that the Lankan players charged before the kicker attended the kick.

Even after granting an excessive injury time, Sri Lanka could have well won the game 25-24 if the referee had not given the kicker a second chance. That enabled Philippines to win by a solitary point 26-25.