The game plan put together by the Sri Lanka think tank and executed to precision by the players was a treat to watch. The Kazakhstan players were rattled up front and they resorted to “Mike Tyson” kind of behavior to try and stall the Sri Lankan juggernaut without much success. The heavier set of Kazakhstan forwards were pushed on to the back foot many a time by the lighter but a determined set of forwards from the island nation. The forwards played like terriers in the loose and were supported well by the star studded back division, with many players playing in new positions.

That diminutive full back from Sri Lanka Army played a heady game and was seen making crashing tackles on players 3 times his size. His place kicking was spot on at most times.

The tries were scored by Pradeep Liyanage in his new position winger and Sanjeeva Jayasinghe. The rest of the points were from the boot of T Silva, which included a the execution of a peach of a drop goal from 35 meters out mid way in the second half. Sri Lanka led 18 – 5 at the lemons. The final score line read 24 – 12 with Sri Lanka qualifying to meet either China or Arabian Gulf on a home and away basis beginning of next year. Sri Lanka are now placed 48^th in the IRB rankings just below Kazakhstan at will certainly move ahead of them as a result of this resounding win.

The spectators had their share of fun and frolic amidst some tense situations marred by rough play. It was hilarious to see the Japanese referee, trying to communicate with Kazakhstan players. It was obvious that they did not understand a word of what the referee was saying. He had to resort to sign language to make himself understood at times. It would be good for the IRB to appoint referees with multi language skills for such games. At one time the verbal barrage unleashed by the Kazakhstan coach at his players was drowned by the crowd behind him, shouting “shut up and site down Putin” because Putin was the only Russian sounding name the crowd knew. (Apart from Madam Svetlana of course! ).

We congratulate our 6 players Anuradha Dharmathilaka, Viraj Prasanna, Asanga Rodrigo, Anuranga Walpola, Mohamed Sheriff, Suranga Swarnathilaka who represented Sri Lanka in this crucial game. We are proud of your achievement. We hope your performances and dedication will be an inspiration to the rest of the CR team, so that more of our players will strive to reach greater heights and enable them to attain the ultimate glory of wearing the Sri Lanka jersey in the future.