Havelocks enter semi-final with 27-15 win over Army
Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE
RUGBY: Havelocks Sports Club entered the semi-final of the
Caltex Inter-club knock-out Rugby Tournament for the Clifford Cup with a
hard-fought 27 points (three goals, two penalties) to 15 (one goal, one
try and one drop goal) win over Sri Lanka Army in the first
quarter-final played at Longden Place yesterday after leading 10-5 at
the breather.
It was the Park Club’s forwards who paved the way for this victory.
Flanker Ravi Jayasuriya was a source of inspiration to his team-mates
with his fiery loose play and was ably-supported by Hassan, Jayasena,
Ganapathy Amarasinghe and skipper Rajiv Perera as the Havelocks ‘eight’
prevailed over their counterparts in the loose.
Havelocks skipper Rajiv Perera struck a shade faster than his
vis-a-vis Nanayakkara in the set scrums while the line outs were shared
between the Army duo of Ratnayake and Jayasena and the Havelocks’ trio
of Jayasuriya, Jayasena and Amarasinghe.
Army’s fly half Upul Kumara set the three quarters in motion at every
turn but they could not penetrate the rock hard Havelocks defence with
flankers Jayasuirya, Seneviratne and centre Nuwan Samith excelling with
some bone-crunching tackles.
Havelocks surged into the lead in the 11th minute when off a 20-metre
scrum No. 8 Rajiv Ganapathy broke away and slipped out a pass to lock
forward Chathuranga Amarasinghe who crashed through for a try near the
posts. Samantha Lakshan added the extra points to make it 7-nil.
Seven minutes later, Army were awarded a penalty in the Havelocks
‘25’ and scrum half Tharindu Darshana took a quick short tap and slung
out a pass to fly half Upul Kumara who dummied his way past several
defenders to fall over mid right for a glorious try. Knowlten missed the
conversion and Havelocks led 7-5.
In the 31st minute, Havelocks fly half Samantha Lakshan fired across
a 30-metre penalty to make it 10-5 at ‘lemons’.
In the 5th minute after resumption, Havelocks fly half Samantha
Lakshan put over a 25-metre penalty to make it 13-5. Four minutes later,
the soldiers reduced the deficit when fly half Upul Kumara dropped a
goal from 20 metres out after they won a line out in the Havelocks ‘25’.
In the 15th minute, the Park Club increased their lead when off a
second phase move Havelocks hooker Rajiv Perera barged through to score
mid right. Samantha Lakshan made no mistake with the conversion to make
it 20-8 in favour of Havelocks.
In the 25th minute, the soldiers reduced the deficit when centre
Sampath Wijesuriya smothered a clearance kick by a Havelocks defender
and Udayanga Chandrasekera picked up the ball and sped over 20 metres to
touch down under the posts to give Kapila Knowlton an easy kick at goal
and the score read 20-15.
Four minutes later, the Park Club put the issue beyond doubt when off
a 10-metre scrum substitute No. 8 Tyronne Harrison powered his way to
score mid left. Samantha Lakshan converted and Havelocks ran out winners
by 27 points to 15.
Referee: D. Nimal |