Sri Lanka’s Tuskers showed bite but not quite enough teeth as New Zealand’s Under-85kg side edged a bruising 27-16 win in the opening leg of their two-match series at Racecourse on Saturday.

Under lights for the second straight year, the visitors rode pressure, precision and a late sucker punch to take first blood in a contest that swung on momentum and discipline.

New Zealand struck early at the breakdown, forcing a turnover penalty with Sri Lanka pinged for holding on. Taine Cordell-Hull made no mistake from the tee to open the scoring.

The hosts hit back with purpose. A knock-on gifted them a scrum platform and the pack went to work, grinding through tight phases. Scrum-half Harsha Maduranga pulled the strings before releasing Mursheed Zubair, whose inside ball sent centre Akash Madushanka on a hard, direct line to crash over for the opening try.

But just as Sri Lanka found their rhythm, New Zealand pounced. Maduranga’s clearance was charged down by Josh Gellart and the ricochet sat up kindly for Simon Sia to dot down, restoring the visitors’ lead.

The Tuskers’ forwards continued to carry with intent, their rolling maul chewing up metres before the ball was shifted wide for winger Janindu Dilshan to finish in the corner. Any momentum, however, was short-lived, Dilshan was sin-binned moments later for foul play, leaving the hosts a man down.

New Zealand wasted little time exploiting the overlap. Kicking deep and setting up camp, they drove a clinical maul, with number eight Pasia Asiata peeling off the back to power over and swing the contest again.

It remained a tight arm-wrestle. Cordell-Hull added another penalty on the stroke of halftime after Sri Lanka strayed inside their own 22, while a potential home try was chalked off for offside. Thenuka Nanayakkara slotted a penalty from advantage to keep Sri Lanka within touching distance, the visitors taking a slender 16-13 lead into the break.

New Zealand resumed with the same clinical edge, winning an early breakdown penalty that Cordell-Hull converted to stretch the margin. Sri Lanka refused to fold, upping the tempo and earning a lifeline when Asiata was shown yellow for a high tackle on Madushanka. Nanayakkara kept the scoreboard ticking, trimming the deficit once more.

But the visitors held their nerve. After soaking up sustained pressure, they forced penalties of their own and Jarred Percival stepped up to bisect the uprights, giving New Zealand breathing space heading into the final quarter.

The killer blow came late. With Sri Lanka chasing the game, a loose clearance towards touch was snapped up quickly by Ben Kelt, catching the defence napping. The move opened up broken field, Pieter Swarts slicing through before sending Matt Treeby over in the corner to seal it in the 77th minute.

New Zealand finished with three tries and four penalties to Sri Lanka’s two tries and two penalties, a late flourish settling a contest that had been on a knife edge for long periods.

The Tuskers will take heart from a far sharper display, but it is New Zealand who carry the upper hand into the second leg in Kandy next week.

by Carlos Van de Berg