Rajans Pride Ettipola - Leading Try scorer in Rugby Asiad

The Sri Lanka under 20 team came up with a superlative performance undoing a hapless Singaporean outfit 65 points to nil.The Sri Lankans made amends to some of their first half follies to run a mock in the second half running up over forty points. The Lankans opened scoring through star full back Rajitha Sansoni who made use of a back line move to touch down. Kenon Armstrong added the extra points. The score stood still for the next twenty minutes until giant second row forward from Reid Avenue Kalana Amarasinghe barged his way through for a push over try. Kenon failed to add the extra points.

Mohomad Arshan the St. Anthony's number eight pulled his hamstring within the first twenty minutes putting Hamza Hassen into his pet position. Roshanka Kodithuwakku took over as hooker. The move paid dividends as Hamza Hassen had an exceptional game playing the rugby he’s known for outdoing his opponents many a time. At the dying stages of the first half big prop forward Nikira Senanayake sprained his ankle giving way to Sachin David to take over the propping duties. The Lankans lead 17-00 at the short whistle.

Once realizing that the Singaporean outfit had no answers to the rugby dished out by the indefatigable Lankans the coaches made a smart move by opting to play all twenty two players there by giving them the much needed exposure. The heat which read at thirty three degrees Celsius did not help the Lankans as they faltered under heaty conditions. The Lankans were guilty of not finishing at least two scoring opportunities due to bad handling errors.The turnaround saw a completely revitalized outfit finding their rhythm with almost half of the back line touching down. Rajan’s skipper Dharshan Attipola stood out with some exceptional side stepping to touch down thrice. The former Thomian vice captain Janik Jayasuriya known for his burly runs took the ball forty meters to touch down there by underlining the Lankan supremacy.

The try scorers for the Lankans were;
Dharshan Attipola (3 tries ),
Janik Jayasuriya (2),
Naran Dhason ( 1 ),
Kalana Amarasinghe (1),
Rajitha Sansoni (1),
Shenal Dias (1),
Rajitha Sansoni (1) with
Kenon Armstrong making the coversions for the Lankans.

The players who stood out for the Lankans,Naran Dhason- had an exceptional game with his feeding to the three’s and was unstoppable in attack.Rajitha Sansoni- cool as a cucumber made some good tackles and supported the line in crucial moments.Dharshana Attipola - was brilliant with his feet, mesmerizing his opponents touching down thrice .Hamza Hassen - made good use of his call to number eight playing some superb rugby in loose play winning many a turnover. Roshan Weeraratne - with some superb feeding from the base.The final score line read 65-00 in favour of the Lankans.