Sri lanka Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 Final…..

Sri Lanka led by Fazil Marija gained the Asian Rugby Championship Division One title beating host Philippines 27 ( 3T, 4P) to 14 (1T, 3P) in the final worked off at Philippines Sports Stadium last evening.

This was the third time Sri Lanka won the Division One Championship, having earlier won the title in 2010 and 2013.
Having struggled to play at any real pace in their opening game against Kazakhstan, the Tuskers put in a much more fluid performance yesterday with the forwards giving their speedy backs plenty of good balls. Debutant Kanchana Ramanayake gave an excellent performance scoring his first international try. Skipper Fazil Marija and Danushka Ranjan also played die hard rugby scoring a try each, while place kicker Reza Mubarak was excellent with four successful penalties.
Philippines drew first blood through a penalty by Matt Bellenie. Sri Lanka bounced back with an unconverted try to get ahead in the game (5-3) when skipper Fazil Marija found the gap from the kick off and touched down near the corner flag.
Mubarak missed the conversion. Later Tuskers again increased the lead with a successful penalty by Reza Mubarak to make the score (8-3). Despite losing a player after a yellow card, Sri Lanka managed to keep control of the game and bagged another try through centre Danushka Ranjan to further increase the lead (13-3). In return the hosts were awarded a penalty which was safely put over by skipper Oliver Saunders.
Within the next few minutes the hosts lost their centre Tim Bweheni to a yellow card, and Riza Mubarak made no mistake with the penalty to give the Tuskers a 16-6 lead. Sri Lanka went on to a comfortable lead in the next minute after skipper Fazil Marija opened the gap with a good individual run and passed to centre Kanchana Ramanayaka to touch down to make the score 21-6. Conversion missed.
Philippines were able to cross the line for the first time when fly half Kenneth Stern scored an unconverted try before the short whistle and the score read 21-11. In the second half Volcanoes were back into the game with a successful penalty by full back Alexander Aronson reducing the margin to 21-14.
Visitors struck back with two penalties by Mubarak to seal a Sri Lanka victory 27-14.
Meanwhile Kazakhstan finished in third place beating Singapore 32 (5T, 2C, 1T) to 12 (1T, 1C) in their playoff match yesterday. Winners led 10-5 at half time.
Japan clinched their 8th Asian Championship since 2008 with a game in hand after beating Korea 66-10.