1990 - when Sri Lanka hosted the Rugby Asiad
Ranjeeva Seneviratne
RUGBY: The biggest and most prestigious event in the Asian
rugby calendar - the Rugby Asiad will be worked off in Colombo from
November 17 to 25 this year.
Fifteen top rugby playing nations of Asia will vie for honours in the
Singer Rugby Asiad which will be played at three venues - Sugathadasa
Stadium, CR and FC grounds, Longden Place and the Royal College sports
complex.
Asian rugby heavyweights South Korea and Japan will battle it out
with Hong Kong for the Cup Championship while host nation Sri Lanka
along with Arabian Gulf, Chinese Taipei, China, Singapore and Kazakhstan
will vie for the Plate Championship. The minnows of Asian rugby Iran and
Cambodia will fight it out with Thailand, Malaysia, India and Pakistan
for the Bowl Championship.
It was way back in 1990 that Sri Lanka last hosted the Rugby Asiad.
Sri Lanka was drawn into Group 'A' along with defending champions South
Korea, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei while Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and
Singapore were slotted into Group 'B'
The Sri Lankans led by Double International Priyantha Ekanayake
confronted the third ranked team in Asia - Hong Kong in the curtain
raiser of the tournament and gave a gallant display to go down fighting
by 13 points to 21.
The Sri Lankan forwards came up with a power-packed display to match
upto the bigger-made Hong Kong 'eight'. Skipper Priyantha Ekanayake was
a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play.
Norman Silva, Sheham Siddik, L.V. Ekanayake, Asoka Jayasena and
Ajantha Samarakoon also gave a terrific display in the loose.
Centres Rohan Abeykoon and Graham Raux stood out with some
bone-crunching tackles while full back Chanka Jayaweera who was making
his debut in international rugby was a tower of strength with his safe
collections and booming kicks to touch.
In addition he joined the line to form the overlap on several
occasions and had the honour of scoring the solitary try for Sri Lanka
while fly half Nizam Jamaldeen dropped a peach of a goal and also fired
across two penalties.
Fly half Gary Acheson was Hong Kong's hero. He put over five
penalties and converted the solitary try scored by Steven Peacock which
gave the lads from Hong Kong a face-saving 21-13 win.
Two days later Sri Lanka came up with another stupendous performance
to score a sensational 9-6 win over Chinese Taipei.
Once again it was the Sri Lankan forwards who played a key role in
their success. Norman Silva, L.V. Ekanayake, Shyam Siddik, Asoka
Jayasena, Niranjan Abeywardena, Lasitha Gunaratne (who replaced
Samarakoon for this game) and skipper Priyantha Ekanayake played like
terriers to outplay their famed counterparts in the loose while the
three quarters especially fly half Nizam Jamaldeen and centres Graham
Raux and Rohan Abeykoon 'nailed' their opposite numbers with some fierce
tackling.
Burly Lasitha Gunaratne scored Sri Lanka's match winning try while
fly half Jamaldeen added the extra points and fired across a penalty to
give the Lankans a historic win.
The Sri Lankans confronted the mighty South Koreans in their last
Group 'A' match and gave a marvellous display to go down fighting by 16
points to 26.
Once again the Sri Lankan forwards gave a plucky display to match
upto the power-packed South Korean 'eight' in the loose. The three
quarters especially centres Raux and Abeykoon and wingers Imthic Marikar
and Aruna de Silva made some daring runs before being brought down in
the nick of time by their opponents.
Winger Marikar scored the solitary try for Sri Lanka when he put the
finishing touches to a classic three quarter move by diving over by the
corner flag while fly half Nizam Jamaldeen fired across four penalties
enabling the Sri Lankans to end the tournament on a high note.
The man who transformed the Sri Lankans into a fighting outfit was
Jeff Matheson of All Blacks fame.
He was brought down from New Zealand six weeks before the Asiad to
assist National coach Anton Benedict and the duo took great pains to
mould the Sri Lankans into a formidable outfit.
The Sri Lanka team comprised- Norman Silva, Sheham Siddik, L.V.
Ekanayake, Asoka Jayasena, Ajantha Samarakoon/Lasitha Gunaratne, Ikram
Odayar, Niranjan Abeywardena/Hector Gunatilleke, Priyantha Ekanayake
(Captain), Sudath Sampath and Nizam Jamaldeen, Aruna de Silva, Graham
Raux, Rohan Abeykoon, Imthisham Marikar, Chanka Jayaweera.
The mighty South Koreans went onto clinch the richest prize in Asian
rugby - by beating Japan by 13 points to 9 in the final played before a
mammoth crowd at the Sugathadasa Stadium. |