Sri Lanka kept their World Cup dreams alive and
stayed on course towards reaching the HSBC Asian Five Nations
(HSBC A5N) Top Five competition, Asia’s World Cup qualifiers, next
year with a convincing 45-7 win over Thailand on Wednesday.
The hosts made it two-from-two and kept their
unbeaten run alive in the HSBC A5N Division One competition, but
more importantly secured their second consecutive bonus point
running in six tries, which keeps them on top of the four-team
standings with maximum points (12 points) from their two matches.
“We have one more step to take before we can
start celebrating,” said Sri Lanka captain and open-side flanker
Yoshitha Rajapaksa. “But I’m happy with the way we are playing. It
was a much-improved performance from our opening game.”
An exhilarating display of open rugby from Sri
Lanka’s fleet-footed backs, who accounted for all of the tries,
plus a dominant pack which ruled the set pieces, gave Sri Lanka
the freedom to rule unhindered at Havelocks Sports Club.
If their opening 39-8 win over Chinese-Taipei
was a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance – the side only coming alive in
the second-half with five tries – the Thailand performance was
complete, although the home team seemed to take the foot off the
pedal once they scored their fourth try and was ensured of a bonus
point.
Winger Sandun Herath and centre Pradeep Liyanage
grabbed a brace each while scrum-half Roshan Weerarathna and
winger Chamara Dabare also dotted down for a try apiece as Sri
Lanka gave the capacity crowd of 4,800 a feast of running rugby.
Fullback Reza Mubarak was also in fine form with the boot,
collecting 15 points from three penalties and three conversions.
“Our backs played well and used the possession
very well. Our target was to get the bonus point and we knew we
had to score tries,” said Rajapaksa.
A change in strategy off the pitch helped
Kazakhstan regain its confidence and composure on the pitch as
they bounced back from their opening game shock loss to Thailand
with a convincing 42-10 victory over Chinese-Taipei in the opening
match of the day.
Fullback Maxim Lifontov gave a master-class in
goal-kicking as he knocked over six penalties and two conversions
to collect a personal haul of 22 points as Kazakhstan overcame the
torrid temperatures of Colombo.
Unlike in their opening game, Kazakhstan warmed
up in the air-conditioned comfort of their dressing room and only
came out minutes before the kick-off fresh and intent on wiping
out the memories of their
first-ever defeat by Thailand in
international rugby, last Sunday.
“We have been training early in the morning, at
six am, and trying to avoid staying in the sun as much as
possible. I think we are also getting used to the heat and it
showed in a much-improved performance today,” said Kazakhstan
coach Timur Mashurov.
Kazakhstan led 26-0 at the break thanks to a
much-improved performance from the forwards led strongly by
flanker Oleg Guselnikov (who played at scrum-half in the loss to
Thailand last Sunday) and No.8 and skipper Serik Zhanseitov.
Two early penalties from Lifontov settled nerves
before tries from centre Alexandr Zakharov, fly-half Daulet
Akymbekov and captain Zhanseitov extended the lead with Lifontov
adding a conversion and another penalty.
The pick of the opening half burst was the last
try by Zhanseitov who was on hand to complete a lovely break by
lock Grigoriy Ivanchenko who peeled from the back of a lineout 40
metres out. A powerful burst down the middle caught the defence
napping before an inside pass sent Zhanseitov untouched to the
tryline.
Akymbekov grabbed his second try soon after the
break to ensure Kazakhstan would get a vital bonus point for
scoring four tries. Lifontov then took over, knocking over every
opportunity as Kazakhstan eased off, intent on keeping their
energy levels.
Chinese-Taipei scored two consolation tries
through Chung Po-yan and Ho Ming-hsien despite losing winger Chen
Chifi-kang to a red card. Down to 14 men, the pressure eased off
on Kazakhstan as they rang in the changes to give their top
players a rest.
“Our idea from the outset was to secure a bonus
point by scoring four tries and I’m happy we did it with the
minimum fuss,” said a pleased Mashurov.
But he was less than pleased to see influential
lock forward Anton Makarenko picking up a red card for a spear
tackle on Taipei’s Chuan Wen-hao. Makarenko is set to miss the
next match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
“It will be a huge loss. He is a key player and
a ball-winning forward,” said Mashurov. “But we are now in a
position to win this tournament. Our fate is in our hands.”
The winner of Division One will earn promotion
to the elite HSBC A5N Top Five competition next year.
Sri Lanka top the standings on 12 points (five
points for each win plus two bonus points for scoring four or more
tries in their matches); Kazakhstan is on six points (five for the
win plus a bonus point for scoring over four tries today);
Thailand is on five points from their opening win over Kazakhstan
while Chinese Taipei has yet to get on the table.
Both Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan have a chance to
be promoted to next year’s Top 5. A straight win for Sri Lanka
over Kazakhstan will see them promoted, while Kazakhstan need to a
bonus point win over the hosts this Saturday (6 April 2013) while
holding Sri Lanka without a bonus point to be promoted.
See also:
Pictures from 2013 Hong Kong Sevens
Rugby,
A5N,
HSBC,
Asian Five Nations,
Taipei,
World Cup,
Sri Lanka,
Thailand,
Kazakhstan
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