Army ends Kandy’s unbeaten run with shocking win

Kandy SC fly half Nigel ratwatte is   held Army flanker Prabath Kumara 

Kandy winger Anurudha Wilwara on  his way to score a try for his team

By Shamseer Jaleel

Army SC 23 points Kandy 22 points

No one would have dreamt of an Army win, especially up in the Hills at Nittawela. But in the end the soldiers did the miracle, unthinkable by many, by one point when they edged out the defending champions, Kandy SC by 23 points (1 goal, 2 tries, 2 penalties) to 22 points (1 goal, 3 tries) win at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium on Saturday.

At the short breather Army led 15/12.

The game was contested with the forwards from both sides showing and carrying the weight of the game. Before the commencement, a slight drizzle made ball-handling difficult but the forwards did the job remarkably well with hands hardly dropping. 

Kandy lost out on their skipper, Dharmapala, Sayuru Anthony and Number 8, Buwanka Udangamuwa due to injuries. Soldiers stood out in forwards play with Asoka Jayalal being outstanding. Rizvi, Ashan Bandara and Full Back Madagedera helped Army immensely with some powerful moves, keeping Kandy on check for the most part of the game. 

For the up-country outfit it was Ranjan who made the difference. He was a touch of class with his powerful moves. Unstoppable and threatening, his two tries took him to the top of the players list in try scoring this season. Nigel Ratwatte too either worked or opted to kick with some top-class accuracy in his decisions. Wilwara too made a good showing. Army drew first blood in the 10th minute of the game through Full Back Isuru Medagedera who put over a penalty for the visitors. Kandy kept on attacking to find the gaping hole in the soldier’s defence through Dhanushka Ranjan’s try. Full Back Thilina Wijesinghe added the extra 2 points to take 7/3 lead. A few minutes later, Kandy touched down through Ganuka Dissanayake with a forwards rush.

But the Army hit back through Flanker Prabath Kumara’s try to cut the deficit to 2 points at 12/10 favouring the home team. On the stroke of half time the Army scored and took the lead through Nalaka Maduranga, to take the short breather at 15/12.

After the turn-around Ranjan scored his second try of the match to take Kandy into the lead at 17/15. Medagedera’s penalty took them ahead at 18/17. Solders who opted to work the line found with their scrum half, Mohamed Rizvi switching direction from right to left to find a gaping hole in Kandy defence which allowed replacement Full Back Gayan Salinda to score near the left corner flag. Kandy SC lost out on Oshan Perera and Viswamithra Jayasinghe for a Yellow Card offence. 

With time ticking, Kandy scored through speedy Winger Wilwara to close the gap at 22/23. During the last minute of play Dhanushka Ranjan covered nearly 40 meters to touch down, but the referee, Sarath Madugalle, who had made several questionable decisions in the game, decided not to grant the try after consulting with his assistant referees.  

Kandy will have a tough outing in Round 2. They will need to travel down to Colombo for no less than four occasions to play against Police, CH & FC, CR & FC and Havelock SC while left with one home game against the sailors. To safeguard the league title they will need to work much harder than they expected. They lost out at Nittawela to the soldiers after five years, tarnishing their 33 match unbeaten record.

Pix by Chamila Karunarathne

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