Hong Kong opened scoring in the very first minute through winger Lee Jones who touched down for an unconverted try to go into 5-nil lead. They scored their second unconverted try in the third minute of play through Alex Mcqueen who collected a pass from his brother Tom Mcqueen and scored to increase the lead to 10-nil which was the score at half time.

Soon after the breather Hong Kong scored their third unconverted try through captain Max Woodward in the eighth minute to increase the score further to 15-nil.

In the very last move of the day Hong Kong scored a try through the other brother Tom Mcqueen which was converted by brother Alex to earn a 22 points to nil victory against the very young and newlook inexperienced Sri Lankans who were sans nine experienced regulars from Kandy Sports Club.

Earlier in the day in their first match Sri Lanka thrashed Chinese Taipei by 43 points to 12.

The Tusker’s tries were scored by Kevin Dixon (two), Hirantha Perera (one), Tarinda Ratwatte (one), Jason Dissanayake (one) and Saliya Hadapangoda (one). Dulaj Perera slotted in five conversions.

In their next match Sri Lanka routed Malaysia 40-12 with tries scored by Jason Dissanayake (two), Tarinda Ratwatte (two), Danushka Ranjan (one), Kavindu Perera (one) and Dinusha Chathuranga (one). Two conversions each were put over by Dulaj Perera and Jason Dissanayake.

Sri Lanka will play opposite group leaders China in the Cup semi-finals while the other semi-final will most probably be against group leaders Hong Kong and the opposite group runners up Koreans.

In the other group matches which took place yesterday Asian giants and rank number one team Japan were relegated to the Bowl competition after shockingly losing 10-12 to China in their first group game and to the Koreans 5-19 in their last group match and crashed out the Cup championship..

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

*Meanwhile in the women’s competition Sri Lanka fared really well when they thrashed Uzbekistan by 39 points to nil and went down fighting to Asian champions and number one ranked Thailand by 7-14 and China by 0-37.

This victory by the Access team is a fitting tribute to their head coach Nilfer Ibrahim who execute and inflict a superb brand of attacking rugby and dished out a fabulous player substitutions in the crucial moments of the game thus bringing this victory to his team ably assisted by Sri Lanka National Under 18 head coach M.J.M Mushtaq in the end.

In the second minute of play Dialog opened scoring through their fly half Dulaj Perera who scampered through for a try near the right corner flag off a beautiful three quarter move which he himself missed the conversion. Dialog ‘A’ led five points to Nil.

Within the space of two minutes Dialog ‘A’ scored again through forward Soyuru Anthony who dummied his way over to touch down for a try under the post after a well compiled three quarter move. Fly half Dulaj Perera made the simple conversion and they went into a hefty 12 points to nil lead.

In the seventh minute of play Access opened scoring when their scrum half Richard Darmapala sliced through the Dialog defence and darted down to score a fine try mid right and their Fly half Chanaka Chandimal slotted the conversion to cut down the lead to 12-7.

Just on the stroke off half time off a Dialog line out throw in their 22 metre line, the ball was collected by Access winger Danusha Dayan who burst through to touch down for a brilliant try under the post after covering nearly 80 metres .Chandimal made the conversion and Access were leading by 14 – 12 at lemons.

After the resumption Access went in to a further lead in the 19th minute of play off a maul by their dynamic forward Buwaneka Udangamuwa who gave a superb inside pass to his winger Kavindu Perera who scampered through for a try mid right. Chandimal put over the conversion once more to increase the lead by 21-12.

In the very next minute star national centre Danushka Ranjan collected the ball off a three quarter move and ran nearly 70 metres brushing off several Dialog defenders to touch down for a spectacular try under the post and Chandimal made no mistake with the conversion and Access went further ahead by 28 points to 12.

In the final minute of play Access worked their three quarters wide where winger Danusha Dayan collected the ball and sprinted his way over for a try mid right after covering close to 55 metres.

Chandimal who had a magnificent day with his boot made the conversion to have a 100% kicking record in this finals and Access International ran out worthy winners by 35 points to 12 in the end.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily News – Access International head coach the jubilant Nilfer Ibrahim said “The boys played their hearts out and we made the tactical moves accordingly, Especially the substitutions at the right time of the game and that really paid off in the end.

Last time we won this trophy way back in year 2000 which i was part of the winning team then as a senior player and after 16 years the fate was such that i was once again part of the winning team, but this time around as the head coach. So in the end i am really a happy man to have three major tournament wins back to back (Inter Schools league and knock out with Isipathana & Mercantile sevens with Access)” concluded Ibrahim.

The winning Access team comprised of Srinath Sooriyabandara(Captain), Wishvamithra Jayasinghe, Jason Dissanayake, Kavindu Perera, Chanaka Chandimal, Danushka Ranjan, Saliya Handapangoda, Buwaneka Udangamuwa, Kevin Dixon, Chula Susantha, Danusha Dayan and Richard Darmapala. Head Coach-Nilfer Ibrahim, Asst.Coach- M.J.M. Mushtaq

Irshad Cader refereed.

In the plate finals the gallant Nation Lanka Finance edged out the favourites John Keels ‘A’ by 26 points to 22 win the championship.

Meanwhile the formidable John Keells ‘B’ Thrashed Dialog ‘B’ 22-5 to win the Bowl Championship and Brandix won the Shield Championship when they thrashed Pan Asia Bank by 24 points to 7.

Lock forward and skipper Ishan Noor opened the account for the Red Shirts when he crashed through for a try by the right corner flag in the 15th minute. Fly half Nalin Kumara added the extra points.

Three minutes later his hooker Arun Kumar ran circles around the CH and FC defence to score a near the post try with Kumara making no mistake with the conversion as CR and FC extended the lead to 14 – 0.

Five minutes before the breather CR winger Kavindu Perera scored an unconverted try to give the red shirts a 19-0 lead. The tough defence of CR did not allow their opponents to penetrate their territory except on one occasion.

Shortly before half time, Danuka Ratnayake scored the only try for the home team with Janith Chandimal being successful with the conversion. At half time CR led 19-7.

A few minutes after the breather Ramanayake scored his first try after dashing through 20 metres. Kavindu de Costa added the extra points.

Ramanayake also contributed with another try in the 13th minute of the second half and Costa added the extra points to make it 33-7 for the visitors.

Minute’s later hooker Kumar scored an unconverted try which helped to increase CR’s tally by five points [38-7].

CR rubbed more salt to CH’s wounds when Jason Dissanayake ran into score a try which was successfully converted by De Costa for the Red shirts to run out worthy winners by 45-7.