CH and FC in resounding 59-8 win over Kandy SC

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

RUGBY: CH and FC entered the final of the Caltex-President’s Trophy knock-out rugby tournament with a runaway 59 points (eight goals, one penalty) to 8 (one try, one penalty) win over a virtual second string Kandy SC outfit in the semi-final played at Longden Place yesterday after leading 35-3 at the breather.

Kandy SC had the services of only five regular players-scrum half Prasad Chathuranga, flanker Dilip Selvam, lock forward Buddhika Thalagampola, prop Kishore Jehan and full back Nilfar Ibrahim with the rest of the team comprising talented youngsters from St. Anthony’s, Kingswood and Vidyartha and the CH and FC went on the rampage to cross the Kandy SC goal line on eight occasions.

The highlight of the match was the excellent place kicking by CH and FC fly half Sajith Bandara who converted all eight tries and fired across a penalty which give him a personal tally of 19 points.

CH and FC surged into the lead in the 10th minute when they won a scrum in the Kandy SC ‘25’ and worked the three quarters and winger Niranjan Wickremaratne put the finishing touches to the move by scoring by the right corner flag. Sajith Bandara added the extra points to make it 7-0.

In the 20th minute off a short tap in the Kandy SC ‘25’ CH scrum half Tuan Shamrock scampered through to score mid right. Bandara converted (CH 14-0).

10 minutes later off a second phase move in the Kandy ‘25’ CH hooker Achala Perera crashed through to touch down by the posts to give Bandara an easy kick at goal and CH led 21-0.

In the 33rd minute off a maul in midfield CH scrum half Tuan Shamrock made a break and slung out a pass to winger Niroshan Ekanayake who burst through to score under the posts.

Bandara made no mistake with the conversion (CH 28-0). Four minutes later Kandy reduced the deficit when fly half Dev Anand put over a 25 metre penalty.

On the stroke of half time off a maul 10 metres away from the Kandy goal line CH scrum half Tuan Shamrock scampered through to score by the corner flag. Sajith Bandara made a spectacular conversion to make it 35-3 at ‘lemons’.

After resumption CH scored three more tries through Dinesh Sanjeewa (two) and centre Matheesha de Silva (one) with Sajith Bandara converting all three tries and firing across a penalty. Kandy SC scored their solitary try through scrum half Prasad Chathuranga with Dev Anand missing the conversion.

Referee: Aruna Jayasekera.