Kandy SC and CR only unbeaten teams

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

Defending champions Kandy Sports Club and their closest challengers CR and FC kept their unbeaten records intact with convincing victories over Kandy SC (36-6) and CH and FC (44-8) respectively in their Caltex ‘A’ Division League Rugby matches played on Saturday and Sunday.

Kandy SC after being contained to a 12-3 lead at the breather came back storming in the second half to add 24 more points helped by a superb display by their three quarters.

In the first half the park club with a much faster and fitter set of forwards spearheaded by No. 8 Rajiv Ganapathy gave a torrid time to the famed Kandy SC ‘eight’. They also tackled hard and prevented the Kandy ‘threes’ from going on a scoring spree.

But in the second half the Kandy forwards came up with a much better display and obtained more possession allowing their three quarters to make maximum use of the ‘good ball’ which came their way.

Fly half Fazil Marija fed his ‘threes’ at every turn and centres Pradeep Liyanage and Sajith Mallikarachchi sliced through the Havelocks defence withe their probing runs while wingers Sameera Silva and Sanjeeva Jayasinghe tested the Havelocks defence to the hilt with their powerful runs down the flank.

Veteran Sameera Silva who had a grand game ended by scoring three tries while Sanjeeva Jayasinghe scored two spectacular tries after collecting loose balls and dashed through 40 metres and 35 metres respectively past several Havelocks defenders. Skipper Sean Wijesinghe scored the other try for Kandy SC. No. 8 Imran Bisthamin too had an excellent game and stood out in both attack and defence.

CR and FC turned in a dazzling display of open rugby to beat the formidable CH and FC by the staggering margin of 44 points to 8 at Longden Place on Saturday. The Red Shirts won an abundance of possession through the slick hooking of Anuja Perera while Anuradha Dharmatilleke towered above the rest in the line outs.

No. 8 Dushanth Lewke and flanker Pavithra Fernando gave a terrific display in the loose and inspired their team-mates to give of their best. They were ably supported by Shamil Mohamed, Anuja Perera, Dharmatilleke, Mallikarachchi and Danushka Perera as the CR ‘eight’ reigned supreme in the loose. Lewke capped a fine performance by scoring two superb tries.

With fly half Dev Anand setting his ‘threes’ in motion at every turn the Red Shirts made maximum use of the ‘good ball’ which came their way. Full back Mohmed Sheriff joined the line to form the overlap and also stood out in defence with some solid tackling. Winger Nishan de Silva (who was a stand-by for the Sri Lanka youth team last year) excelled with some powerful runs down the flank and ended up by scoring two tries.

The Sri Lanka Army notched up their first win for the season with a runaway 55-5 win over the minnows of ‘A’ Division rugby Old Zahirians at Police Park on Sunday. It was a morale-boosting win for the soldiers who had the satisfaction of crossing the opponents goal line on nine occasions and have a chance of making it two in a row when they confront the Air Force on Friday at Ratmalana.

The Sri Lanka police registered their second win for the season by overcoming the Airmen by 10 points to nil at Police Park in a lack-lustre game on Friday.