A breath of fresh air

After almost a decade the Havies dished out some quality rugby on Saturday at Havelock Park. Pitted against one of the top two club sides in local rugby they gave a good account of themselves.

The SLRFU rule that club sides in the bottom half of the league being able to field expatriate players appears to have had a positive effect thus far. Havies had the services of two expatriate players courtesy of a Samoan and a Tongan.

The vital berth of Number 8 was filled with one of them, whilst the other sported the number 12 jersey. The final score in favour of Kandy was a mere five points and someone in the crowd remarked, it Havies game to either win or lose and they chose to do the latter.

The Havies played their hearts out no doubt enthused by the influx of the ‘new team mates’. At least five clear scoring opportunities went a begging due to a combination of poor handling, lack of coordination and poor body position close to the goal line.

I am amazed that some basics are being forgotten in such instances. My mind goes back to the first leg of the Bradby, where a Trinity player was on the verge of scoring, before a brilliant cover tackle by the Royalists snuffed out the scoring opportunity. Once again he was almost over the try line but was still upright and a bone crushing tackle saw the ball being spilt forward.

Take a look at the Aussies and the Kiwis for an example… they dive into the goal area thereby snuffing the ability of the opposition to disrupt the scoring opportunity. The local coaches and their support staff need to look at this vital aspect as the final seconds of a well planned move decides between glory and defeat.

The stand out player for Kandy, missing a number of their regulars, was their towering man in the Number 8 jersey. He was brilliant in attack as well as in defence. He appears to have an uncluttered mind and is very decisive with ball in hand.

He does not have what I call the ‘crab instinct,’ that is to run sideways. He forges ahead looking to make ground and off load at the correct moment. Often we see players running the width of the pitch which is of no avail.

One of my previous coaches used to always say ‘the speed of the ball is greater than the speed of man’. Hence if you want to move the ball sideways you need to pass it and if you need to move it forward you need to run with it or kick it.

Having said that, in one instance when Kandy was awarded a penalty about 10 metres from the Havies goal line they opted a cross kick for the winger to make a dash. It was a good idea as the Havies defence was caught napping but not well executed.

Whilst I am not generally critical of the refereeing at a match, I must confess that there is a gap between the top three and the others. All we as spectators clamour for is consistency in the application of the laws of the game.

Players, on the other hand, must be up to date with the laws. Many a time we see the captain inquiring from the referee when the flaw is blatant. Coming in from the side and not through the gate, not supporting one’s own body weight, not rolling away after the tackle, diving in to the ruck as if it was the local swimming pool and taking too long to throw the ball in are a sample of the basic errors on display on Saturday. I have seen this in the last few school games as well.

In Saturday’s game, Havies appear to have a single lineout jumper and I was surprised that Kandy did not capitalise on the same. If Havies are to give a good account of themselves this year, they need to have a little more variation.

On the part of Kandy, it is a long time since anyone saw the lads in the Pink and Chocolate jersey put up a decent fight and to that extent they were caught napping. They had come into the game missing a few seniors and with a single game plan.

The tenacity of the Havies had them back peddling and they failed to execute plan ‘B’. In defence of Kandy one must accede to the fact that they showed character in the face of an organised onslaught by the Havies.

On a related note, we were greeted with the news on Friday that three of the SL players had tested positive for taking a banned substance in the recently concluded Asian five Nations championships. Speaking to a few of the support staff and seniors I am advised that this is common practice.

In my opinion doping has no place in the sport and must be eradicated at all costs by educating the players and by swift and harsh punishment for the offenders. In the past few months it has been observed in boxing, weight lifting, cricket and now rugby.

It is also a well known secret that at school boy level some coaches advocate the use of ventolin. This has long term effects on the player and must be stopped now. If we continue the way we are, soon SL would be able to win a gold medal in every competition for doping!