The first ever New Zealand U85kg team to tour Sri Lanka has come away with a 2-0 sweep in the series against the Tuskers, the national rugby side of Sri Lanka.
After a 50-10 victory in the first encounter last week in Kandy, the Kiwis were preparing for a tougher challenge in the second outing, where the Tuskers made some changes to the squad that was convincingly beaten in front of a raucous crowd in Kandy.
Game two followed the same sort of pattern, this time in front of a packed out 25 thousand estimated crowd at Race Course Grounds in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
The New Zealand team, led once again by impressive first five and captain, Jarred Percival from the High School Old Boys Light Bears club team in Canterbury, were able to punish the Tuskers’ errors to run in five tries to none, running away with a 32-6 victory on early Sunday morning NZT.
Percival was the first New Zealand player on the scoresheet in Colombo, following behind the play, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. New Zealand fullback Francis Morrison got the ball in his hands after an awkward bounce, before offloading it to Percival, who, like every great first five, was in support to score the first try of the evening.
The Kiwi first five then found himself on the end of a slick backline counter attack move, where impressive midfielder Ben Megson fired a quick pass inside to Percival, who once again went in just to the left of the posts. Percival was unable to add the extras on top of both of his tries, keeping the lead at 10-0 after 20 minutes of action.
The Tuskers were able to get their first points of the evening through a penalty from out in front, before the Ngatai Walker coached New Zealand side threatened the Sri Lankan defence once again.
The Kiwis shifted the ball wide to winger Pieter Swarts, who stepped one defender to score in the same corner the first two Percival tries were in.
HT: 17-0 to New Zealand U85kg.
It was the Sri Lanka Tuskers who struck first in the second half, through another penalty. The New Zealand side then made some changes to their squad, before taking a penalty of their own.
Vice captain of the New Zealand U85kg team, Josh Gellert from the Auckland University Slug Collectors in Auckland, then hit back with a try, proving too big, too strong from close to the line.
Morrison went from provider to scorer, dotting down for his first try of the evening with just under 10 minutes to go.
For the second straight game, the Kiwis were able to restrict the Tuskers to limited ball, and proved to be too clinical with ball in hand, completely dominating the two match series in Sri Lanka.
FT: 32-6 to the NZ U85kg side.
