Sri Lanka are the biggest climbers in the latest World Rugby Rankings after moving up nine places from 47th to 38th in the world to equal their highest ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.

The newly-crowned Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 champions earned 2.84 rating points after they overcame Kazakhstan in midweek before going to beat host nation the Philippines 27-14 in Saturday’s final.

The Philippines drew first blood in Manila when Alex Aronson kicked them into an early 3-0 lead, but Sri Lanka hit back with a three-try blitz, captain and fly-half Fazil Marija leading from the front with a fine individual effort.

Centre Danushka Ranjan was next to get in on the act after he fended off two would-be tacklers to score his third try of the tournament. Midfield partner Kanchana Ramanayake then added another after being put away by Ranjan. Riza Mubarak failed to convert any of the tries but was on target with two penalties as Sri Lanka kept in control of the scoreboard.

The Philippines had seen two ‘tries’ chalked off for infringements before Jeff Gregson finally scored their first and only legitimate try with two seconds of the half remaining to cut the gap to 13 points.

Defences were on top in the second half and no further tries were scored, each side kicking two penalties apiece for a final scoreline of 27-14 in Sri Lanka’s favour.

Well balanced

“The loss is a bitter one at the moment but I’m really pleased with the effort the guys have put in. I thought that today we really put it all together in the second half, particularly in our attack, but our defence was wanting and we took some wrong options on the pitch,” said Philippines coach Stuart Woodhouse.

“It’s disappointing of course but I think the loss will be good for Philippines rugby in the long-run. We are still learning and developing as a team and the guys will go back and review what we did right and what we didn’t, so I am sure we will come back stronger. It is a good division, the teams are really balanced and all have different styles. So now we can prepare ahead for next year and come back stronger,” Woodhouse added.

Afterwards, Nalin de Silva, Secretary of Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union, revealed how a pep talk from Sri Lankan cricket legend Mahela Jayawardene had inspired the Tuskers to victory.

“This is fairly young team with seven debutants appearing in the squad and we had to prepare them mentally and physically,” de Silva said. “We (the SLFRU) had a few programmes to make players mentally tough. Former cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene shared his experience with the players on playing sport at the highest level.”

With the win Sri Lanka have a chance to move up to the top tier of Asian rugby next year if they choose to challenge the bottom-placed team at the conclusion of the Asian Rugby Championship. If held, that match would take place in the home nation of the third-place finisher in the Top 3 on 6 June. Starting in 2016, there will be a mandatory promotion and relegation play-off match.

Source: boxscorenews