Resounding victories for Kandy and Havelocks

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

Defending champions Kandy Sports Club turned in a dazzling display of open rugby to score a smashing 41-7 win over the formidable CH and FC at Nittawela.

Winning an abundance of possession the lads from Kandy ran the ball at every opportunity and crossed the CH and FC goal line on seven occasions.

They won plenty of ‘good ball’ from the set scrums and line outs with hooker Anuranga Walpola getting the better of his vis-a-vis Achala Perera in the set scrums and the duo of Imran Bisthamin and Sumedha Jayasinghe towering above the rest in the line outs.

With the Sri Lanka halves combination of Saliya Kumara and Fazil Marija hitting it off smoothly Marija set his three quarters in motion at every turn.

Dashing winger Sanjeeva Jayasinghe who had a grand game scored three scintillating tries with the best try coming just before the breather when after receiving a pass in Kandy territory he dashed through 60 metres to fall over by the right corner flag for a spectacular try.

Full back Radhika Hettiarachchi also came off with flying colours. He often joined the lien to form the overlap and ended up by scoring two tries.

Fly half Fazil Marija and centre Pradeep Liyanage also touched down once each to give Kandy SC a runaway win and a six point lead over their nearest rivals CR and FC.

The runners up of the Caltex ‘A’ Division League for the last four years and reigning President’s Trophy Champions CR and FC staved off a fierce second half challenge by a gallant Police outfit to win by 22-20 at Police Park on Sunday.

The Red Shirts completely dominated the first half with the forwards coming up with a power-packed display to outplay the police ‘eight’. They scored four superb tries to take a commanding 22-6 lead at ‘lemons’.

But in the next 40 minutes CR’s three quarters gave a woeful display of ball handling - ‘knocking on’ at crucial moments which prevented them from crossing the Policemen’s Goal line in the second half.

The Policemen came back storming in the last ten minutes and were rewarded for their efforts with two fine tries by the left corner flag and with Harshana Wijeweera making two spectacular conversions the policemen went down fighting to the formidable CR and FC.

Havelocks Sports Club came up with a power-packed display to beat Sri Lanka Army by the staggering margin of 48 points to 7 at Havelock Park on Saturday. The Park Club which is enjoying one of their best seasons in recent years were propelled to victory by their power-packed forwards who came up with a sterling display to outplay the Army ‘eight’ in the loose.

Rajiv Perera, Mohamed Izzadeen, Kavinda Jayasena, Danushka Sandaruwan, Rajiv Ganapathy and Shafi Hassen gave a fiery display as the park club ‘eight’ reigned supreme in the loose.

Havelocks three quarters too gave a pleasing display with wingers Wasim Thajudeen, Nuwan Hettiarachchi and fly half Samantha Lakshan scoring one try such. With Lakshan making a personal contribution of 18 points making five conversions and a penalty in addition to scoring a try.

Havelocks owe their success to their dedicated coach Nishantha Chanaka who has taken great pains to mould them into a formidable outfit.