Lanka rout Kazakhstan to clinch Asian Five Nations title

By Ranjan Anandappa

Sri Lanka who had performed impressively throughout the tournament had their final say with another highly professional performance to beat Kazakhstan with a big margin of 49 points (five goals, one try and three penalties to 18 (One goal, one try and two penalties) to win the HSBC Asian Five Nations tournament and enter the next phase of the tournament in their final match at Havelock Park yesterday.

In the other two games Sri Lanka beat Chinese Taipei (39-8) and Thailand (45-7) which made them firm favourites of winning the tournament. Yesterday they won in style with their opponents Kazakhstan surrendering meekly to a stronger outfit which completely outplayed the visitors right from the beginning of the match.

The Lankans needed only a bonus point by scoring four tries in yesterdays game after their big wins against the Chinese Taipei and Thailand, but they did better by coming closer to the half century mark in a match that looked one sided.

The Sri Lankan diligent set of forwards and the backs formed a lethal combination as the visitors could not offer any resistance. The cutting edge was given by the back division to compliment the good work done by the forwards who went on a try scoring spree.

Kazakhstan drew first blood when their full back Maxim Linfontov put over a straight forward penalty in the second minute of the match. Then Sandun Herath helped Lanka snatch the lead by crossing the Kazakhstan line and Reza Mubarak put over the conversion. Mubarak was at his best and his unerring kicking gave the side valuable points. In the eight and twenty first minutes of the first half Reza Mubarak fired over two forty meter penalties which took Sri Lanka’s points tally to 13-3.

Sri Lanka’s dominance was clearly seen as the visitors wilted under the terrific pressure in the sweltering heat as the Lankans struck time and again through their power packed display. Shenal Dias gave a dazzling display when he collected a pass and brushing away three defenders touched down under the post for Mubarak to convert. Then Pradeep Liyange scored a try under the post Mubarak converted. Only another penalty by Maxim Lifontov was scored in the first half for the visitors as the host team went for lemons with the score reading 30-6.

On resumption Sri Lanka went on to stretch their lead as their was no improvement shown by Kazakhstan in their game plan. Sathya Ranatunga scored off a forward rush and then fly half Fazil Marija picking up a grubber and scored under the post and a ‘chip’ kick by Marija enabled Chamara Dabare to touch down. Full back Reza Mubarak’s consistent kicking helped swell the score and also gave him the Player of the Tournament Award.

During the dying stages of the match Kazakhstan scored two tries one by Kymbelkov and other by Alexander Polyakov who ran forty metres to touch down under the post.

A delighted Sri Lanka captain Yoshitha Rajapaksa said that he was proud of the manner in which his players performed especially the forwards. “I am proud of our set of forwards who gave a robust display and thought that the opposition would have given a better display. However, with the team being promoted we should make strategic changes to do better while meeting the tougher opponents” he said.