Kandy huff and puff before beating Havies 27-22 at rugby

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy Sports Club huffed and puffed before pulling off an exciting 27-22 win over a fighting Havelock Sports Club team in their Division 1 Inter-Club league rugby tournament match which was worked off on Sunday (January 7) at Nittawela.

Kandy SC were forced into a defence mode in the second session of play when the visiting team from Colombo found the art of playing many phases without losing the ball to shock the Nittawela side. Many thought Havies would pull off a win using this method, but some crucial errors by Havies when they were really on top and attacking saw the momentum they built in the second half being wasted. Kandy played brilliantly in the first half and scored three tries against two by Havies and enjoyed a two point (19-17) lead at half time. The try scorers for Kandy in the first half were Dilan Ekanayake, Danushka Ranjan and Chathuranga Kudalige. Havies got their first half tries through Senal Dheelaka and Randitha Warnapura.

Kandy were forced to make many errors and were seen giving away two yellow cards; both in the first half and one had such a crucial effect on the team set-up because it was one of the props which went out and stayed ten minutes in the sin bin. Havies had one yellow card.

Kandy capitalized on the Havies’ yellow card and got points through the boot of Tharinda Ratwatte. Srinath Sooriyabandara then put Kandy SC into a ten point lead with a solo run; eventually producing the team’s fourth and final try with the game 52 minutes old.

Havies hit back with a try from Dinupa Senewiratne, but the team’s place kickers, who failed miserably, failed in converting opportunity into points. The last promising move by Havies was squandered by a replacement player who opted to kick ahead instead of using the forwards and moving towards the Kandy try line.

The much improved CH & FC side recorded a hard-fought 14-10 win over Air Force Sports Club on Saturday (January 5) at Race Course in a game that retained it’s ability to entertain spectators right till the last whistle of the referee.

CH & FC dominated the first half and did all their try scoring during that period before running into stiff resistance from the Airmen in the second half. The second half gave some scares to the CH & FC side when they lost key players due to three yellow cards, but they managed to wade off the challenge posted by Air Force despite playing with 13 men at one time during the game. CH’s tries came through Prasath Madusanka and Dinesh Lakshan while the kicks at goal were taken by Hirusha Nethmina.

Air Force earned a first half penalty through the boot of Gayantha Iddamalgoda.

CR & FC continued their marauding form in the league Rugby tournament into the fifth week when they recorded a run-away 57-6 win over Navy SC at Welisara; also on Saturday. The winners ran down nine tries in total and snuffed the life out of the Sailors in both halves. CR & FC led 27-6 at half time. The try scorers for the winners were Randy Silva (2), Randul Senanayake (1), Raveen Silva (1), Iranga Ariyapala (1), Samith Warnakulasuriya (1), Rinesh Silva (2) and Shehan Kelaniyangoda (1). The kicks at goal were taken by Manilka Ruberu. CR & FC converted six of their nine tries.

On Friday (January 5) Police SC produced a hard- fought 19-10 win over Army SC at Police Park. The winners collected their points through three tries and two conversions while Army responded with two unconverted tries.