Lanka loses golden opportunity to SLRFU blunder…

Thanks to the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union’s (SLRFU) blunder Sri Lanka lost a golden opportunity of playing in the top league of the Asian Rugby Championship – Top 3 and with Malaysia winning the Division One title on Saturday they get the rare chance of rubbing shoulders with the elite Asian nations next year.

Sri Lanka by virtue of winning the Asian Rugby Championship – Division 1 last year could easily have taken part in the Top 3 of the championships this year but instead the SLRFU took a decision that the country should remain in Division I and by doing so they have let a rare opportunity go waste.

Next year again Sri Lanka will have to compete in Division I and try to emerge champions if they are to qualify and play in the Top 3.

Jason Dissanayaka on his way for that spectacular try that gave Sri Lanka the win over Philippines.

Malaysia created history by mauling Singapore 40-20 in the last round-robin match to lift the Division One title for the first time at the Asian Rugby Championship at Royal Selangor Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia went into the match knowing that a win was all they needed to clinch the title after watching Sri Lanka score a last gasp win 25-21 win over Philippines on Saturday.

Malaysia and the Philippines started Saturday’s matches tied on six points, with the hosts leading the four-team standings on better score difference.

Malaysia completed the three-match fixtures with 11 points while world No. 38 Sri Lanka finished second with nine points. The Philippines, who beat Malaysia 15-10 in the opening match, finished third with seven points while Singapore, who ended with just four points, will be relegated to Division Two next season.

Malaysia, cheered on by their home fans, put up a superb display against Singapore scoring five tries, three conversions and three penalties against Singapore’s two tries, two conversions and two penalties.

Mohamed Azmir Zanul Abidin scored two tries and was the toast of Malaysia while Fijians number eight Etonia Vaqa Saukuru, centre Jone Mawara Nasalo and full back Atunasia Lacadamu Takubu chipped in with one try each.

Mohammed Syarif Saiful Aazwan Sudin converted all the penalties and tries for Malaysia.

Expatriate fly half Mike Patterson made it a one-man show for Singapore by scoring tries, the conversions and penalties.

Malaysia had a disastrous start, with Singapore leading 6-0 from two penalties, but they slowly but surely turned on the heat to take control of the match.

The Division one champions (Malaysia) will be involved in a playoff with the team that finished third in Premier Division to compete in the top 3.Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea are the three countries competing in the Asian Rugby Championship – Top 3.

Malaysia really came up the ladder after finishing last in Seoul in 2011 and lost to Singapore in the Division Two final in 2013, hence all the credit should go to their rugby board’s vision as they recruited 10 Fijian imports to play for them for this championship even though the eligibility of these 10 players to play in this tourney for Malaysia remains highly questionable and a mystery.

But hats off to the Malaysian rugby board for going ahead and playing them and in the end it paid rich dividends as the won the championship. After the win Malaysian head coach Lee Nyuk Fah was full of praise for the whole squad and the country’s rugby board. He added that he would request the Malaysian Rugby Union (MRU) to allow the national team to play in the play-off for a place in the Top 3 along with Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

In an earlier match Sri Lanka edged out a fighting Philippines in the very last minute of the game due to a spectacular try scored by open side flanker Jason Dissanayaka who single-handedly took the Tuskers to victory by scoring two tries.

What a game and what a result in the end as the Lankans were trailing 20-21 before the winning try came along. The Tuskers in this tournament was never even close to their usual brand of rugby and were very lucky to end as runner-up.

Sri Lanka scored three tries with Jason two and centre Kanchana Ramanayaka one while full back Reeza Mubarak converted two tries and put over two penalties.

At the last Asian rugby – Division 1 championship in Manila, Philippines in 2015, Sri Lanka became champions by playing a tremendous brand of rugby due to lots of top class overseas players from South Africa, Fiji, Western Samoa, Tonga, Kenya and New Zealand turning out for the local clubs in the domestic competition. One reason for Sri Lanka failing to win this time around was that we did not have a single overseas player turning out for the local clubs in the domestic inter-club championship due to the leading rugby clubs voting against foreign player participation for domestic matches. This has in a way affected the standard of our rugby and it reflects on the national team’s performances.

Also after we won the Division-1 championship last year in 2015 we did not take part in the play offs with the top division third place team to win and graduate into the top division and play alongside the likes of Japan and South Korean sides due to the local rugby governing body’s decision. As a result of this blunder the chances of Sri Lanka getting into the top division by becoming winners of the division one tournament are drifting away unless a miracle happens.

Incidentally we are the only team that participated in the Asian rugby championship without a single overseas player whereas Malaysia had 10 Fijian imports, Singapore six and Philippines eight.

Hence it’s high time our rugby board (SLRFU) got things right by allowing foreign players to participate in our rugby clubs in the domestic tournament and get some quality foreign players to start representing our national team like we did in 2014 when two Fijian born players in Josep Dunn and Waqavulagi Emori represented the country.

-WAI