Defending champions Sri Lanka Women’s national sevens rugby team took third spot when they beat Singapore Women by 24 points (4 tries, 2 conversions) to 5 (1 try) while Sri Lanka men’s sevens team secured fourth place after losing to Hong Kong by 17 points (3 tries, 1 conversion) to 20 (4 tries) in the play-off for third place in the Borneo 7’s rugby tournament concluded on Sunday at Sandakan, Malaysia.
Asanga Seneviratne the president of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) said, “Sri Lanka men were outstanding in Borneo. A virtual under 23 side with our national captain Muthu (Sudarshana Muthuthanthri) as the only senior player in the squad, they beat Saba Eagles with five Fijian internationals, Mellow Puffs, a South Auckland invitation team and narrowly lost to Hong Kong along with another New Zealand team Borneo Eagles the defending champions in the Cup semis.
“Our national women’s team showed tremendous improvement but unfortunately lost a few players due to injury and lost in the Cup semi-finals. This tournament was a good experience booster for both teams and the high performance coaches are on track to improve our team rankings and be a serious medal contender for the upcoming Asian Games in August,” Seneviratne said.
Earlier in the day Sri Lankan men’s won their Cup quarterfinals beating Mellowpuff New Zealand 24-19 in the sudden death period when referee awarded a penalty try after the game ended in a 19-all draw at full time.
In the Cup semi-finals the men’s Tuskers lost by 17 points to 12 to defending champions of the Borneo Sevens – Borneo Eagles from New Zealand.
Sri Lanka women’s Tuskers won the cup quarterfinals beating Sabath Eagles by 46 points to nil to get into another Cup semi-final with last year’s losing finalist Thailand.
But unfortunately Sri Lanka lost the semifinal to Thailand off a try in the last minute after the scores were level at two tries all.
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