Sri Lanka defeated the Hong Kong Dragons 59-0 yesterday at Happy Valley, but local coach Norman Russell still had plenty to smile about afterwards.
Brief passages of play, either side of the break, saw the outplayed Dragons take the game to the visitors and create some confusion in their ranks. This was reason enough for Russell to put on a brave face at the end of the day.
'For about 10 minutes in either half we looked good. If we can turn that 10 minutes into 20 minutes it will be a good start,' said Russell.
The Dragons, playing for the first time since last June, are looking ahead to December's Asian Games where rugby will be played for the first time. Sri Lanka were their first opponents on that road to Bangkok and despite stumbling badly, the Dragons had their moments.
Scrum-half Andrew Stevenson and centre Chester Wong stood out in loose play while the front row of skipper Conrad Wong, Kenneth Lo and Raymond Wong showered themselves in glory by winning two tightheads against their bigger opponents.
But mistakes allowed the Sri Lankans to score a number of soft tries. They led 28-0 at half-time and then added a further five tries after the break to take the tally to nine.
