League champions Kandy SC have the edge over CR and FC

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy sports corr.

RUGBY: Win or lose it is going to be celebration time in the hill capital as Kandy Sports Club who have already won the Caltex League title for the seventh time in a row take on their rivals CR and FC in the final match of the Caltex League Rugby Tournament at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium in Kandy on August 4 (Saturday) at 4.30 p.m.

This match will be of only academic interest as Kandy Sports Club have already won the trophy and the formality of handing over the Caltex Trophy is the most important task left to be performed.

This Kandy Sports Club side have remained unbeaten in their last 29 outings and their last defeat was three years ago when they were beaten by the Sri Lanka Army by a single point in a match which could have gone either way.

Though this season Kandy Sports Club went through some anxious moments in some of the matches especially the one played down in Colombo under sweltering conditions their winning approach was never at stake as they pulled through in the last stages of the match which is something lacking in other clubs - the killer instinct.

When the chips are down and defeat looms then there was that man with the ‘golden boots’ full back Nalaka Weerakoddy who would execute a drop goal from any angle at a crucial stage of the game which would change the entire complexion of the game.

This season he has executed 10 drop goals from varying angles and this has been a bonus for the Kandy team. Not since the days of John Bousfield, Bagoos Sourjah and Dr. Lakdasa Dissanayake for Royal College has rugby seen such proliferation of drop goals.

This was by a player who thought was ‘over the hill’ and that it was high time that he hung up his boots. But he came back bouncing to silence his critics with his boots. The way he is playing at present he is good a for couple of seasons of good rugby.

Kandy’s forwards have been always mobile led by the skipper and prop forward Jeewa Galgamuwa himself and supported by that indefatigable power house Dusantha Lewke as No. 8 has been pounding the opponents defence leaving gaping holes for the back division of wingers Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and new found boy Mohammed Jabbar to capitalise. Also excellent has been Pradeep Liyanage and Sameera Silva and Sajith Mallikkarachchi.

Up in the second row it has been Buddhi Talagampola, Sumedha Jayasinghe and flankers Imran Bisthamin, Sean Wijesinghe and Dililp Selvam have done their part well.

So has been the halves combination of Fazil Marija with Saliya Kumara or Prasad Chathuranga.

Thus the Red Shirts will find it tough to overcome this Kandy side in their home terrain and before their vociferous supporters who have stood firmly behind the club over 15 years since the turnaround in 1992, a revolution led by rugby promoter Malik Samarawickrema himself when he transformed an ‘also ran’ side into a champion outfit establishing record after record.

CR & FC were soundly beaten by Kandy SC 23 - 0 when they first met at Longdon Place on July 1. It is too much to expect for the Red Shirts to do in Kandy what they failed to do on their home grounds at Longdon Place. If CR & FC could topple this Kandy side at Nittawela it is going to be one of the biggest upsets in recent times.

Kandy SC have played 11 matches winning all 11 - both home and away. They have scored 473 points whilst conceding 72 to their opponents and have totalled 47.50 points. CR & FC have played 11 matches winning 9, losing 1 and drawing 1. They have scored 403 points and given away 139 points to their opponents.

In terms of tries Kandy have scored 37 goals and 32 tries while the Red Shirts 32 goals and 27 tries. Therefore there is no way that the red shirts could catch up with the hill capital’s ruggerites.

Kandy SC -(from) Jeewa Galgamuwa (Captain), Anuranga Walpola, Kishore Jehan, Senaka Bandara, Buddhi Talagampola, Sumedha Jayasinghe, Sean Wijesinghe, Dilip Selvam, Imran Bisthamin, Dusantha Lewke (No. 8), Saliya Kumara or Prasad Chathuranga, Sajith Mallikarachchi, Mohammed Jabbar, Pradeep Liyanage, Fazil Marija, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Nalaka Weerakoddy.

CR and FC - Shamil Mohamed, Senthil Kumar, Danushka Boteju, Anuradha Dharamathilake (Captain), Henry Terrence, Ashan Karthelis, Kasun de Silva, Naveen Wijetunge, Amjad Buksh and Ashan de Costa, Dinesh Kumara, Mohamed Sheriff, Lasintha de Costa, Ravindra Wekadapola, Radhika Hettiarachchi.