Havelocks in hard fought 21-15 win
Ranjeeva Seneviratne
Havelocks Sports Club opened the 2008 rugby season on a winning note
with a hard fought 21 points (one goal, one try, three penalties) to 15
(one goal, one try, one penalty) win over Sri Lanka Army in their Caltex
'A' Division League rugby match played at Police Park yesterday after
leading 10-7 at the breather.
It was the Havelocks forwards who paved the way for this victory. The
park club 'eight' especially Rajiv Ganapathy, Rajiv Perera, Hassen, T.P.
Seneviratne, Andrew Jegan and skipper Kavinda Jayasena gave a sterling
display in the loose to outplay their counterparts. In the set scruns
the experienced Havelocks hooker Rajiv Perera got the better of his
vis-a-vis Asoka Jayalal while the line outs were shared between the Army
trio of Ratnayake, Susantha and Pushpakumara and the Havelocks duo of
Jayasena and Jegan.
Fly half Samantha Lakshan too played a key role in their success
along with winger Wasim Thajudeen. Lakshan contributed 11 points by
firing across three penalties and converting one try while Thajudeen
relieved pressure on several occasions with his booming kicks to touch.
The park club opened scoring in the 6th minute of the first half when
winger Wasin Thajudeen followed a kick by a Havelocks player and picked
up the ball to score by the right corner flag. Samantha Lakshan made a
splendid conversion.
Three minutes later the ball came Army's way off a ruck in mid field
and fly half Upul Kumara slung out a pass to centre Duminda
Wickremaratne who dummied and side-stepped his way past several
defenders for over 40 metres to fall over under the posts for a glorious
try. T.A. Silva added the extra points and the scores read 7-all. In the
31st minute Havelocks fly half Samantha Lakshan fired across a 30 metre
penalty to give the park club a 10-7 lead at 'lemons'
In the 5th minute after resumption Havelocks increased the lead when
off a five metre scrum no. 8 Rajiv Ganapathy scored a push over try by
the right corner flag.
Lakshan missed the conversion. (Havelocks 15-7). Fifteen minutes
later Army reduced the deficit when T.A. Silva put over a 25 metre
penalty to make it 15-10. In the 23rd minute Samantha Lakshan fired
across a 35 metre penalty. (Havelocks 18-10).
The soldiers fought back and 10 minutes later off a five metre short
tap flanker Ajit Pushpakumara crashed through for a try mid right. T.A.
Silva missed the conversion and the scores read 18-15 in favour of
Havelocks. Two minutes later fly half Samantha Lakshan put the issue
beyond doubt by making no mistake with a 25 metre penalty and Havelocks
ran out winners by 21 points to 15.
Referee-Dilroy Fernando
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