Kandy reign supreme

The much anticipated clash between HSC and Kandy was worked off in the hills over the weekend. Kandy eventually pulled through and it is generally difficult to break a winning habit as much as it is difficult to break a bad habit. This year without doubt HSC had their best chance of beating Kandy and even winning the league title given the quality of rugby that they played during the season.

As I have said before Kandy have been crowned champs for over a decade and would definitely not give this title up without a fight. It is however creditable that HSC lost by a margin of a single score and now have a mathematical chance of winning the league title provided Navy turn tables on Kandy. The Navy / Kandy game is scheduled for the next weekend and with Navy having a bye last week they should be fresh and raring to go. Navy must guard against their rough play as they cannot afford to play with a man down against an outfit like Kandy.

Army showed us all as to why they are a force to be reckoned with their final performance against the Police. Their play against Police was pretty clinical and after being led for some time, decided that the time was right to move in the heavy artillery and left the Police standing as mere spectators with a few T56 weapons to show. Army interestingly have nine bonus points the highest in the league and had one or two games gone their way, which the authorities bungled, they would have been in the # 4 slot. They must definitely feel aggrieved at this point in time.

Police are in with a chance as they meet the Airmen in their final show down, whilst the current # 4 slot holders UCL have to meet the Havies. I would put my money on Police provided they play their natural attacking game.

With SL tottering at 20/3 in the ODI against India on Saturday, I thought that it would be a better idea to watch the CR / UCL game. I was proved wrong. The crowds at the game was poor, I cannot imagine that all were in Kandy or at the Premadasa stadium. The quality of rugby dished out was worse and no match to most of the school games this season. Both sides were guilty of numerous handling errors and basic errors in the ruck and maul situation. The CR # 8 for some strange reason continues to be ‘unbound’ at scrum time on their loosehead. I have seen this happen on numerous occasions and the fact that the opposition does not capitalize on this is baffling. UCL took time to settle down and once they were into their stride scoring became a matter of a formality against a hapless CR side. The CR side simply does not have quality players and will continue to embarrass the membership with such performances. I spotted the likes of Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy and Ajit Abheyratne at the game, and they must have been cringing at the quality of rugby on display. The fact that the rugby loving public is required to pay to watch such insipid games to my mind are the height of hypocrisy. Maybe they should just open out the gates in their next encounter against the other hapless side, the CH who are fighting hard to retain the last slot. The only redeeming feature was the level of refereeing at the game courtesy of Paul Mackay, who could have improved upon his performance, had the assistant referees played their part as opposed to simply running along the touch line like some excited school kids. On the Super Rugby front, the Crusaders were shocked and eventually lost to the Chiefs by a slender margin. The game was played at pace and for all you budding young as well as club rugby prop forwards, have a look at the intensity that was displayed by Chiefs prop Sona Taumalolo. His determination and omnipresence at the breakdown was a treat to watch, matched by some intelligent scrummaging, and fierce and technically correct tackling of even some of the three quarters. Any one in doubt should have a word with Dan Carter. Two classy # 10’s were on display and most will agree that Cruden got the better of Carter on the day.

In the second game, the Sharks upset the Stormers to book a place in the final next week. Frederic Michalak was on song and marshalled the back line well. His drop goal was a peach and put the opposition on the back foot after about eighteen minutes of play and another just before the end to seal off an impressive performance. Thus we are all set for a bruising final on Saturday.

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