Sri Lanka emerged plate champions in the Shanghai 7s Rugby Tournament – the second round of the 2012 HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series, beating Thailand 22-7 today, the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union stated.

Sri Lanka faced Thailand in the Plate Final today after completely dominating Singapore (41-00) and UAE (43-00) in the group stages.

Thailand had scraped through to the Plate Finals after drawing against Chinese Taipei in their previous group stage encounter.

Coached by Rugby Sevens legend Ben Gollings, the Sri Lankan outfit amassed 17 points in the first half to the solitary try that Thailand managed.

The second half was a tighter affair with Thailand defending much better than in the first, however Thailand failed to make any impact offensively and failed to stop one more try by the Sri Lankans who ended the game with four tries.

Sri Lanka conclude their exploits in Shanghai with an overall 5th place.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong will take on China in an enthralling final later today.

Sri Lanka were drawn into Pool ‘A’ along with Hong Kong, Korea, United Arab Emirates and Singapore while China, Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand competed in the Pool ‘B’.  

The Sevens rugby team was led by Kandy Sports Club flyhalf Farzil Marija, replacing scrumhalf Srinath Sooriyabandara who captained for the Borneo Sevens in which Sri Lanka emerged Bowl champions.