CH and FC stun Kandy

S. Sivendran

RUGBY: A new look CH and FC stunned Kandy SC, the reigning champions by holding them to a thrilling 13-13 draw at Maitland Crescent in their 'A' division league tournament on Saturday in front of a large crowd of wildly cheering rugby fans who got their money's worth.

CH and FC, who adopted new tactics in their lines-out, outsmarted the Kandy forwards who looked non-plussed. In the scrummaging too CH and FC played better and won many good balls.

But the handling of the ball by both forwards and threes was faulty and dropped many passes which could have earned them more tries.

Kandy, on the contrary looked a jaded outfit and the antics of some of their players earned them jeers rather than cheers from the crowds. Nalaka Weerakody missed several conversions which did not help his club.

The game commenced with both teams playing good rugby and Kandy went into a 3-nil lead with a penalty by Nalaka Weerakody in the early stages of the game.

Thereafter both teams were seen in some beautiful back play and CH and FC was awarded a penalty try for a dangerous tackle by the corner flag goal line on CH wing three quarter Udaya Kumara was speeding for a well deserved try.

Full back Saliya Kumara, a former Havelocks player, added the extra points for CH and FC to lead 7-3. Just before half time CH increased its lead to 10-3 with a penalty put over by Saliya Kumara.

After 'lemons' Kandy SC played some refreshing rugby with both the forwards and the three-quarters blending beautifully. This earned them two tries by their speedy wing three-quarter Sanjeeva Jayasinghe.

Both these tries were not converted by one time reliable Nalaka Weerakody and Kandy went into a 13-10 lead.

CH and FC missed many scoring chances due to poor ball handling and were seen in some solid defence work with strong tackles to prevent Kandy from going into a further lead and the match was heading for a Kandy win, and the time ticking off to full time.

But CH and FC who were playing gamely was awarded a penalty from 40 metres out during injury time and CH and FC full-back Saliya Kumara became an instant hero when he kicked this difficult penalty dead centre for CH and FC to earn a 13-13 draw which they fully deserved.

Jeff Matheson, their new coach should be a happy man after his 'charges' performance on this day and the sterling performance against Cr and FC the previous week, even though the match was lost.

Kandy which had won their earlier two games against Army and Havelocks during the previous two weeks seems to be not playing the same brand of rugby and seems to be sliding.

Their next match against CR and FC on Saturday should be a thriller at Nittawela, Kandy. On the same day CH and FC take on the strong Army at Maitland Crescent.

Havelocks outplay Army

The young Havelocks team were rewarded for their entertaining rugby with a good win over the strong Army on Sunday by a convincing 39 points (4 goals, 1 try and 2 penalties) to 14 points (2 goals) in their 'A' division league rugby match at Havelock Park.

This win against the Army is very creditable as Army team is studded with strong and hardy players compared to the park boys who are young and just out of school. Even in their earlier games, Havies played well inspite of losing to CH and FC, CR and FC and Kandy and they deserved this win.

On this day Army scored first with a try by their second row forward Nishantha Jayasooriya, which was converted by their reliable full-back T. A. Silva to take a 7-nil lead.

This was short lived when Havelocks prop forward Kasun Yasaisuru powered his way from a five metre scrum to score under the posts. Centre Sajith Bandara converted for Havelocks to draw level 7-7 at half-time.

The second half saw Havelocks at its best. First it was flanker Bandara Dissanayake who scored an unconverted try. Sajith Bandara who missed the conversion put over a penalty to increase the lead to 15-7.

Havies increased their lead to 22-7 with a try by centre Ruwan Suranga which was converted by Sajith Bandara.

Army hit back with a try by fly half Heratge Karunaratne and T. A. Silva added the extra points to reduce Havelocks lead to 22-14.

This was all Army could score and thereafter the young Havelocks took control of the game to add two penalties by Sajith Bandara and a try by full-back Dulip Mithuruwan which was again converted by Sajith Bandara. Army has lost all their games this season and will confront CH and FC next Saturday at Maitland Crescent.

Air Force trounce Jawatte Lions

Air Force in their segment 2 league match trounced Jawatte Lions by 87 points to 3 points in a one-sided game to make the segment 'B' tournament a mockery.

Old Zahirians beat Police

Old Zahirians who began their rugby a couple of years back did well to down the Police, a one-time rugby powerhouse in the country by 26 points to 15 points in their segment 2 league match.

It is sad to see the police playing poor rugby and losing its image as a leading rugby club with a glorious past.