Sri Lanka won their fourth Asia Rugby Men’s Championship Division 1 title at the weekend after a 45-7 win over Kazakhstan in Colombo.

The tournament hosts were cheered on by a 20,000-capacity crowd at the Racecourse Ground and rose to the occasion by scoring 45 points for the second time in a week.

Sri Lanka, who had beaten India 45-10 in Tuesday’s semi-final, were too strong for Kazakhstan, especially in the first half, and went on to win 45-7.

Mursheed Doray opened the scoring and then came up with an assist for Adeesha Weeratunga before Thenuka Nanayakkara added a third as Sri Lanka’s backs ran free.

Tarinda Ratwatte then converted Nanayakkara’s try and one of his own and also added the extras to Dinal Ekanayake’s score as the Tuskers went into the break with a 31-0 advantage.

Ratwatte had a hand in the build-up to Heshan Jansen’s try not long after the restart, Ratwatte again converting to turn the five points into seven and increase their lead to 38-0.

Rasul Magomedov replied with a consolation try for Kazakhstan but there was still time for one last Sri Lankan score as Sachith Silva punished another Kazakhstan handling error with a run to the line from deep.

As a bonus, Sri Lanka’s victory will lift them up three places in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings when they are officially updated at 12 noon (GMT +1) on Monday.

Sri Lanka will find themselves in 41st – their best position since they were 40th in August 2018. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, will remain in 64th.

Qatar won the third-place play-off against India, 34-25, and will climb four places to a new high of 90th. India are set to drop two to 89th.

Moldova finish campaign in style

Two Rugby Europe Conference 2023-24 games counted towards the rankings this weekend.

Moldova finished top of Pool C and will take on Luxembourg away in a play-off for promotion to the Rugby Europe Trophy 2024-25 after completing a clean sweep of wins with a 48-6 victory at home to Bulgaria. They move up three places to 54th, while Bulgaria will drop three to rank in 62nd.

Andorra took to the field for the first time on the weekend after their first two matches in Pool A were cancelled and won 32-8 away to Norway. It will lead to a two-place gain when the rankings are updated at 12 noon (GMT +1) with the team moving up to 87th. Norway’s ranking (105th) is unaffected by the result.

Norway are bottom of the Pool A standings but have one last chance to break their duck after three straight defeats when they take on Finland on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Malta got the better of Cyprus in Limassol in the other Conference game, winning 24-14, but it did not carry any rating points as the hosts are not a full member union of World Rugby.

Jamie Barnwell’s first game in charge of Cayman Islands ended in a 44-12 win against his former team, Bermuda.

The win will move Cayman Islands up into the world’s top 50, to 49th, following a four-place gain. Bermuda will drop three places to 70th.