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The New Zealand Under-85kg team showcased their superior skill-set to secure a comfortable 50-10 win over Sri Lanka Tuskers in a highly-anticipated rugby encounter at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy yesterday evening.
Although the Lankans led by Nigel Ratwatte were on par in the opening exchanges of the game, floodgates opened once the visitors managed to familiarise themselves with the conditions in Nittawela.
The visitors scored back-to-back tries in the first quarter of the encounter before Sri Lanka responded with a try from No. 8 Dahan Wickramarachchi which was duly converted by skipper Ratwatte.
Sri Lanka threatened to cross the try line on multiple occasions but could not accumulate any more points before the halftime whistle of referee J.P. Clements.
New Zealanders on the other hand managed to score two converted tries to lead 26-07 at lemons.
The second-half started in a similar fashion with the Tuskers matching their New Zealand counterparts both in attack and defence.
Sri Lanka skipper Ratwatte opened the scoring in the second-half with a penalty to reduce the deficit.
Although the boisterous crowd at Nittawela expected more tries from their hometown stars, it was the New Zealanders who accumulated the points in the business end of the encounter.
The visitors scored four more tries to seal a comfortable win in Kandy.
Both teams will now travel to Colombo for the second and final game of the tour.
The series finale will take place at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo on May 10.
The winner of the tour will also be awarded the Sir Graham Henry Trophy.
Incidentally, this is the first time a New Zealand rugby team has visited Sri Lanka since 1955.
