Sports watch

Top rugby action, thanks to Tharunyata Hetak

Sri Lanka rugby fans had the good fortune of witnessing some entertaining action with an international favour, thanks to the untiring efforts of Tharunyata Hetak (TH) movement.

It was a treat to watch as rugby of a very high standard was dished out at the Carlton 7s Sri Lanka 2009, organised by the Tharunyata Hetak in association with the Interim Committee of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Team TH was instrumental in getting down some of the top teams in the region to add colour to the mega event. Asian rugby heavyweights Japan and South Korea along with Kazakhstan, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the proud host Sri Lanka.

Rugby fans had a rare treat of witnessing some of the top players in the business during the 12-nation tournament. The international exhibition rugby tournament attracted AustralianLegends, Fiji Barbarians, New Zealand Legends, Papua New Guinea, South Africa Pool and Western Samoa Barbarians.

It is amazing to see the efforts the Team TH is taking to promote sports in Sri Lanka under the dynamic young leadership of its President Namal Rajapaksa. Apart from its latest role in rugby promotion, Tharunyata Hetak has been actively involved in conducting many mega sporting events, including the famous Carlton Supercross.

Needless to state the passion TH President Namal Rajapaksa has for rugby, having lead S.Thomas' and Sri Lanka Youth team with distinction. His younger brothers Yoshitha and Rohitha too have been versatile rugby players, turning out for S.Thomas' and Sri Lanka Under-19. Hence, Team TH had all the expertise and experience in successfully conducting a top class international event in Sri Lanka.

As the General Secretary of the Tharunyata Hetak Lalith Piyum Perera had pointed out, the TH Team is the pioneer youth movement in Sri Lanka. They have embarked on major projects in education, sports, community development etc for the benefit of youth in our country. During the past three years Carlton Sports Club, the sports wing of the Team T, has organised many sporting events in motor racing, badminton, rowing and beach sports fiesta.

Helped by four spectacular tries by skipper Koji Wada, Japan bagged the Asian Sevens Title of the Carlton Sri Lanka Rugby Sevens when they beat Malaysia by 26 points to 7 in the flood-lit final on Sunday.

It was a great come back by Japan after training 5-7 at lemons. It was Malaysia which shocked all, opening scoring as early in the second minute of the game when Miho Nazri Hamid touched down. But Japan managed to reduce the deficit minutes before the short whistle skipper when Koji Wada scampered through to touch down for an unconverted try.

Having made a careful stock of their mistakes in the first half, Japan stormed into the game in the second half with some penetrative moves to breach the Malaysian defence. Wada continued his good work to complete a hat trick of tries in the second half, taking his overall tally to four. Early in the third minute after the turn around, Wada crashed through for a try under the posts to give Kenji Shomen an easy conversion.

Minutes before the long whistle, Wada made sure of Japan winning in style with his fourth try. The fourth try was mainly due to his individual brilliance when he sliced through the Malaysian defence to score under the posts as Shomen made no mistake in adding extra points. On their way to the final, Japan had a smashing 40 points to 5 victory over Taiwan while Malaysia had the better of Kazakhstan.

Unfortunately, the hosts Sri Lanka could not make their presence felt in a big way. Having come out with a gallant display on the first day with a stunning 22-12 win over the mighty South Korea, Sri Lanka painted a poor picture on the final day as they were knocked out in the Asian Plate semi-finals by Thailand 12-28.

Nevertheless, schoolboy Darshana Etipola who scored both tries and converted one of them, had a good game. Earlier in 'quarters' of the Cup championship, Sri Lanka lost to Kazakhstan by 12-17 after trailing 0-17 at the breather.

Two superb tries in the last couple of minutes by winger Kanthipong Meepin gave Thailand a thrilling 15-12 win over South Korea in the Plate championship final. Digicel Fiji Barbarians turned in an entertaining display of red hot rugby to win the International title with a smashing 38-12 win over South African Vipers in the final after leading 19-7 at half time.

A try by Brian Shabangu gave South African an early lead but Fiji replied with a try by Niumania Rokobu. Fiji went on the offensive once again to score two more splendid tries through William Ryder and Osea Kounisau both of which were converted to give Fiji a 19-7 smart lead at lemons.

It was great to see Fiji making some penetrative back division moves to maintain their supremacy. They ran down three more tries in the second half through Osea Kounisau (two) and Niumania Rokobu with William Ryder converting two of them.

St. Peter's College, Colombo won the schools seven-a-side which was played alongside the international tournaments. They had an exciting 17 points (one goal, two tries) to 14 (two goals) win over Royal College in the finals after leading 12-0 at half time. Royal came back to the game too late after training 0-12 at half time.

St. Peter's sealed the game in the first half it self with a solid foundation, scoring two early tries. They opened scoring through Rizwan Meedin and later Shenal Dias scored the second try for the winners. Early in the second half, St.Peter's extended their lead to 17-0 with a third try.

The Reid Avenue boys fought back but when they started their act midway in the second half it was too late. However, they were able to give some anxious moments to Perterites with two good tries scored by Shehan Pathirana and Kalana Amerasinghe.