Asia Rugby Men’s Division 1 Championship, Colombo – 2024

TUSKERS RESUMES INTERNATIONAL RUGBY TRIUMPHANT FASHION

Asia Rugby Men’s Division 1 Championship, Colombo – 2024

By Dhammika Hemantha

Skillful Sri Lankan Tuskers overcame the powerful Kazakhstan Nomad’s challenge in an emphatic manner to clinch the Asia Rugby Division-1 Championship last night in front of adoring rugby fans packed in at the Racecourse International Grounds Colombo, beating Kazakhstan by 45 points to 7.

The opportunity to be on the international scene was marred by political and administrative tug-of-war as Sri Lanka Rugby was kept in international exile for five years. Sri Lanka however made a colorful re-entry to international rugby as their comeback assignment ended successfully.

The tournament’s final match began as a clash between the skills and speed of Sri Lankans and the size and brute strength of Kazakhstanis. The start wasn’t auspicious for Sri Lanka, as Heshan Janson knocked the simple kick-off ball. Tuskers regather the composure during early exchanges where both teams are trying to take a measure of each other. Tuskers were well disciplined in their defense, which helped them keep visitors away from scoring despite a few threatening attacking moves inside Tuskers’ half. Heshan Jansen’s smart and opportunistic quick tap pass to talismanic vice-captain in the 10^th minute came off an off-side infringement led the Tuskers to the first try of the game as Tharinda Rattwatthe’s timely grabber sent Mursheed Subair touching down unchallenged to the left flank for an unconverted try.

Leading up to the second try, a series of swift handlings in the 17th minute, Mursheed Subair sent his CR&FC teammate Adeesha Weeratunga over the right whitewash to miss the conversion from 36 meters out tough angle by Ratwatte. A well-charged down ball touched down Kazakh’s in-goal by the fly-half. Thenuka Nanayakkar in the 24th minute put the Tuskers firmly in the driving seat as Ratwatte got his first conversion between two uprights, with Sri Lanka leading 17 to nil. High on confidence and efficient in distributions, Tuskers starts to adopt end-to-end game, and through silky hands, Akash Madushanka sent Ratwatte over the line, dragging two defenders with him for a classy try and subsequent conversion to take Sri Lanka up by 24 to nil by the 30th minute of the game. Tuskers show off their brilliance in the 35th minute, this time with a pin-point accurate chip-kick over the top by half-back Heshan Jansen, sending winger Dinal Ekanayaka almost unchallenged for the fifth try, which Ratwatte converted from a difficult angle about 38 meters out. It was a dominant first half, as the score line read 31-0 at lemons.

Kazakhstan hoped for a bright second half, but classy Ratwatte’s no-look pass to Heshan Jansen, who ran a terrific angle through a yawning gap in the middle before finishing under the post for a spectacular try to begin the second half and a simple conversion by the fly-half Thenuka Nanayakkara. The lead of 38 points to nil put Sri Lanka in a position of strength before a powerful drive by Kazakh’s skipper Rasul Magomedov to the left corner put the first points on the board for visitors to take them out of embarrassment. Abdrakhman Nazhibayev added two more points with a brilliant conversion that went through a relocation off the left upright and bounced off the cross bar before going in for two additional points, adding some respectability to the score line of 38-7.

As Head Coach Sanath Martis emptying his bench, replacement players struggled to keep up to the hectic pace set out by the team mates, though they managed to score one more try through a scintillating run by Sachith Silva to finish things off in style for the Tuskers. Hirusha Nethmina, with an easy conversion, makes the score line 45-07.

Sri Lanka ended the campaign as Division-1 Champions. SLR administrators have more hard work ahead of them as they look forward to taking them up to clash with the top 5 in Asia, where Sri Lanka could believe they really reached where they truly belong.