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.

They remain at third place despite their triumph, behind Kandy SC and Havelocks SC, but they will fancy their chances against the defending champions with the sort of form they are in at the moment. Having said that, they are a young team prone to make mistakes, but they have to believe in themselves and need to be more consistent come the business end of the season.
On the other hand things just went from bad to worse for Police SC with their latest defeat. They were earlier beaten by Kandy SC and Havies, but the loss against CR and FC would be more painful given the fact that the Cops were favourites to win it on paper.

Police SC signed a bunch of experienced players before the beginning of the season, but most of these players don’t look like they are willing to put their bodies on the line for the club. They hardly put in a proper tackle during the match.
The players they have recruited have been playing for a while and are quite experienced, but the referees have issued six yellow cards against them in the last two matches with flanker Sharo Fernando receiving a red.
Six yellow cards mean they have conceded their opponent the advantage for more than 60 minutes, and when a team does that they are not going to win many matches.

Navy vs CH and FC
Meanwhile, Navy SC got back to winning ways with a 67-6 hammering over CH and FC, where flanker Yoshitha Rajapaksa and scrum half Richie Dharmapala bagged a brace each while wing three quarter Dinusha Chathuranga, Number Eight Sajith Saranga, centre Lee Keegle, Kanchana Perera and Saliya Hadapangoda also contributed with a try apiece at the Race Course on Saturday.
The club from Maitland Crescent has now lost all four matches they have played with huge margins, which is a real shame for a club which has a glorious history.

Army vs Kandy
Meanwhile, Army SC was beaten fair and square by the reigning champions Kandy SC, but the Soldiers will be proud that they became the first team to concede less than 50 points against Fazil Marija’s men, who eventually won 44-8 at Nittawela on Sunday.

Centre Richard Dharmapala impressed for the league leaders with a couple of tries, while Marija, flanker Sashika Jayawardene and two prop forwards Kishore Jehan and Piyumal Manchanayake too got into the score sheet.
Kandy SC has dominated the league so far. It would be fair to say that they have had some easy fixtures to start with. However, their games against Havies and CR and FC will decide whether the trophy will remain in the Hill Capital.

Havelocks vs Air Force
The Havies registered their fourth consecutive win in the league beating Air Force SC 26-13 at Havelock Park on Sunday
They have got one of the country’s best players, if not the best, in centre Danushka Ranjan. An absolute powerhouse, the old Peterite has been massively influential in his side’s success.
They outclassed Air Force in the first half, but since Ranjan limped off with an injury in the second half they were put under enormous pressure by the Airmen, which proved the sort of impact he has on the team.
Ranjan, scrum half Rahul de Silva, hooker Prasath Madushan and fly half Samantha Lakshan were the try scorers for the winners.