Sri Lanka confident of beating China

RUGBY: The Sri Lankan ruggerites who have been training hard for the last two weeks under the watchful eyes of national coach George Simpkin will go out with confidence when they take on China in an Asian zone qualifying match of the rugby World Cup at Longden Place at 3.30 p.m. today.

The Sri Lankan's are going great guns having scored smashing wins over Thailand (48-38), Singapore (24-17) and Kazakhstan (24-12) in the earlier qualifying matches and will go all out to topple China and qualify to play in the Cup Championship of the Rugby Asiad in Colombo in November this year.

If the Sri Lankans emerge victorious today and also beat Hong Kong in their next World Cup qualifying game on May 14 they will move up to segment 'A' in the Asian region alongside Japan and South Korea who have already booked their places in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.

The Sri Lankans have won five out of six encounters against China but today face a vastly improved Chinese outfit.

Possession will play a vital role in the final outcome. Today the Sri Lankans will hope to obtain a large share of possession from the slick hooking of Viraj Prasantha and the excellent line out jumping of Anuradha Dharmatilleke and Senaka Bandara.

China with a strong and much fitter set of forwards should dominate in the loose and the Sri Lankans will rely on their three quarters to deliver the goods.

In Amjad Buksh and Asanga Rodrigo, Sri Lanka has a fine halves combination while skipper Sajith Mallikarachchi, Fazil Marija, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe and Mohamed Sheriff are hard and penetrative runners who are capable of breaching the China defence.

The teams:

Sri Lanka: Nilan Ekanayake, Viraj Prasantha, Jayantha Ranaweera, Anuradha Dharmatilleke, Senaka Bandara, Dilanka Wijesekera, Danushka Perera or Sean Wijesinghe, Dushanth Lewke, Amjad Buksh and Asanga Rodrigo, Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, Sajith Mallikarachchi (captain), Fazil Marija, Mohamed Sheriff, T. A. Silva.

China (from): Chen Jian, Yuan Guogiyang, Chan Zhonghao, Ma Bing, Wu Jianghao, Hu Ming, Zhou Bo, Chen Zhun, Chen Xiamong, Li Yi, Cao Zhiwan, Yu Xiaotiang, Yang Xuebin, Sun Tao, Li Shufeng, Zhu Peihou, Yu Gualiang, Li Stidong, Shi Tong, Li Sheng, Li Ning, Dang Yingliang.