Kandy SC outplay CR and FC in thriller

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN, Kandy Sports corr

It was red hot rugby which was dished out before the defending Caltex Rugby League champions Kandy Sports Club outsmarted their challengers CR and FC by 18 points ( 1 goal, 1 try, 2 penalties ) to 15 ( 3 tries ) in their first leg of the Caltex league rugby tournament match played before a very large crowd at Nittawela yesterday. At half time Kandy SC led 15-5.

It was champagne rugby all the way as both teams for once played clean and hard which was relished by the large crowd present.

This was an example how rugby should be played as every phase of play was well contested and there was no fraying of tempers or exchange of fisticuffs and even the tackling was clean and fair.

The scrums and line outs appeared to be evenly shared and it was in the loose play that Kandy held the advantage through some fiery play by No. S. Imran Bisthamin, flankers Sean Wijesinghe, and Dilip Selvam. Their three quarters especially Sanjeewa Jayasinghe and Sajith Mallikarachchi tackled well to stop the hard running CR and FC back division from making any headway.

The reigning champions Kandy Sports Club dominated play in the first ten minutes of the game and during this period they could have opened through a penalty which was fluffed by scrum half Saliya Kumara from a very difficult angle.

But Kandy did not have to wait for long to open their account as in the 16th minute, they won a line out in mid field and the ball changed hands through Fazil Marija and Pradeep Liyanage before scrum half Saliya Kumara sliced through the defence to score far left and Radhika Hettiarachchi failed to add the extra points Kandy led 5-0.

In the 24th minute the red shirts were penalised for ‘going over the top and scrum half Saliya Kumara fired a 35 metre penalty for Kandy SC to increase their lead to 8-0. But the visitors were not overawed by this situation as they came storming into the game through some bustling play which rattled Kandy and they fell back into defensive play.

In the 30th minute the red shirts won a line out deep inside Kandy territory and their forwards drove powerfully and vigorously for prop forward Terrence Henry to fall over far left. Fly half Dev Anand failed to add the extra points. CR 5-8. thus setting the stage for a pitched battle.

In the 34th minute Kandy won a line out in their opponents territory and the ball moved through the hands of stand off Fazil Marija, Dilip Selvam before centre Sajith Mallikarachchi crashed through the defence to fall over on the line, mid right. Scrum half Saliya Kumara added the extra points Kandy led 15-5.

But the red shirts fought tooth and nail to harass Kandy’s defence which stood firm for sometime. After a couple of scrums, CR and FC were awarded a penalty a few metres from the Kandy line and No. 8 Dushantha Lewke taking the short tap powered his way to score mid left. Dev Anand failed to add the extra points. CR 10-5.

Shortly afterwards the red shirts came close to scoring when fly half Dev Anand collecting a kick ahead sprinted a good 40 metres before being brought down by centre Sajith Mallikarachchi with a fine tackle.

In the 23rd minute the red shirts scored their third try when their hooker Anuja Perera getting the ball from the line out sneaked his way to score by the right corner flag and this try went unconverted with Reza Mubarak’s kick being off target.

The scores were level at 15 all. In the 39th minutes the red shirts made a serious blunder when they were penalised for holding on to the ball and scrum half Saliya Kumara fired a 35 metre penalty to put Kandy ahead again 18-15.

In the final four minutes of play the red shirts were almost on the Kandy line and they did everything but score with Kandy’s three quarters tackling hard and thwarting the attempts of their opponents.

James Fitzgerald from the Arabian Gulf refereed