Fast improving Sri Lanka fall in spirited contest with UAE. Better preparation will raise Sri Lanka’s expectations. – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE. (eLanka Sports Editor).
From a team humiliated by Hong Kong China in their last outing, Sri Lanka remarkably recovered their composure to make the bigger and stronger UAE exert every sinew of their muscle before they pulled ahead late in the game to win 29-21 at the Racecourse ground in Colombo.
The battle was relentless as a spirited Sri Lankan squad tackled the bigger opposition to a standstill, and some would argue this was a game well within their grasp for the taking if they had capitalised on their opportunities.
The battle in Colombo was one where Sri Lanka enjoyed climatic advantage against a team bigger but struggling to handle the energy sapping humidity.
Two lead changes was a clear indication of the battle for supremacy as a both teams probed each others defences with fierce passion. UAE, much like Hong Kong China and South Korea, used the crash and bash game style to gain territory. But to Sri Lanka’s credit, their tackling and defensive work was spirited and elevated to a much better level.
Sri Lanka’s backline clearly looked a shade better than UAE. But starved of possession in the scrums, they salvaged some ball from the visitors untidy work in the lineouts and fumbling when in full flight. But they were unable to capatilise on it to swing the game their way.
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Much credit must got to rushed New Zealand coach Rodney Gibbs who transformed the team in his short time with them. And his technical expertise on countering bigger men was evident in game three.
Sri Lanka stayed in the hunt upto te 29th minute after UAE scored first in the 5th minute and the home team replying with a Tarinda Ratwatte penalty 3-7.
Using their superior weight in the forwards battle UAE crashed over from five meters in the 12th minute through Brad Jones as a helpless defence were unable to stop him. 12-3.
Sri Lanka’s backs then hit back in one of their brilliant backline forays designed by skipper Tarinda Ratwatte who executed a well timed a pass to scrum half Mohamed Rifan who waltzed through the UAE defence untouched to score. 10-12.
Ratwatte then gave Sri Lanka the lead through a 35 metre penalty in the 18th minute. 13-12.
UAE responded with a penalty of their ownin the 29th minute to regain the lead. 15-13, and then pulled away with a try by winger Sakusav who cleverly pounce on a well directed grubber into the ingoal area. 23-13.
Sri Lanka replied with another Ratwatte penalty to cut the lead to 16-22 at half time.
Soon after the turnaround Sri Lanka stunned the UAE through another piece of Tarinda Ratwatte creative work when he caught the defence napping with a clever cross kick that was chased down and picked up by Lasindu Hishan who scampered to the goaline for a converted try that raised expectations of an upset looming. 21-22.
It was put to rest in the 70th minute when an increasingly worried UAE forced a scrum near Sri Lanka’s goal line and a clever grubber was pounced on by Steply which was converted in the final scoreline after a hectic contest.
UAE were rated clear favourites to win this game despite playing in extremely humid conditions in Colombo.They had already accounted for South Korea and were in contention for the second spot from Asia to play in the second place qualification, and victory, was their driving motivation.
The win forged UAE past South Korea as the second placed Asian team giving them another opportunity of qualifying if they can beat the top team in South Africa 2.
From a Sri Lankan perspective, although winless, they showed enough spirit and to suggest that they can be competitive apart from the Hong Kong China thrashing.
What must also be remembered is that Sri Lanka’s preparation was far from ideal compared to the other three in the Asian top tier.
Rushing to gather a squad after the local competitions, hit by injuries to key players and insufficient training to get technically prepared for countering bigger men in all three teams in their group made up of superior stature from Europe and the Pacific Islands, they showed themselves up as a team scrambling to compete.
Game three was perhaps the best effort where Sri Lanka, under new coach Rodney Gibbs, found better technique to hold a formidable opposition forwards pack but just could not get over them.
It gives them optimism for the future, but Hong Kong China was the only team worthy of entering the world stage.
