CH shock second-placed Havies 

By Shamseer Jaleel 

A gallant CH&FC made a remarkable second half comeback in order to secure a well-deserved 27-25 win over the park club in a thriller. This was a good comeback win for the CH lads as they lost to Navy and Army in games which should have gone their way if they had continued to battle it out until the end of play.

This encounter saw CH’s star player Lee Keegal coming back into the starting line-up, with him displaying some outstanding rugby skills to help his club win this encounter. Although Havelocks scored two consecutive tries, CH cut the deficit through a Henry try and two penalties from Samuel Maduwantha but the park club went into halftime with a comfortable 25-13 lead. 

After the turnaround it was CH all the way as an Avantha Lee try cut the deficit between the two teams to 5 points. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, who had a grand game, was quick to react and send Ariyapala through for a try with Maduwantha making the conversion to give CH a 27-25 lead. 

CR edge out cops 

Police almost produced the second shock of week two through a superb second half rally, falling short by just two points. CR pulled off a nail-biting 33-31 win in the end. 

Tries from Skipper Kavindu Perera, Gayan Jayasekera and Omalka Gunaratne took the red shirts to 19 points but the cops hit back through a penalty try and penalty through Sandesh Jayawickrema to have things at 19-10 but CR went further ahead through a converted try from Omalka to have the scores reading 26-10 at halftime. 

Tries from Iroshan Silva and Wajid Fahmy, which were both converted by Sandesh, reduced the margin between the two teams to two points. The first 15 minutes of the second half was dominated by Shamly Nawaz’s outfit. Police, who kept on attacking, were awarded three kickable penalties but missed all of them. Reza Rafaideen, who many see as Sri Lankan rugby’s next Fazil Marija, was unstoppable, returning from a yellow card to go over for a well-deserved try. Police scored through a forwards move but it was too late for them and they paid the penalty for leaving things too late in the game and for squandering points on easy kicks.

Kandy outclass 

Air Force

Although many thought Kandy would be under pressure at Ratmalana due to their shock defeat last year, this was not the case. They grounded the Air Force outfit through a 10-try blitz, winning 64-12, with the home team only able to reply with two of their own.

Kandy pack leader Buwaneka Udangamuwa and Dhanuska Ranjan scored early tries with Thilina Wijesinghe’s kicking accuracy helping the team take an early 14-0 lead. Ishara Madushan scored Air Force’s first try but then the floodgates burst open for Kandy as they scored through Danushka Dyan, Shehan Pathirana and Anuruddha Wilwara, propelling them to a 31-5 lead. Kandy SC’s iron prop forward Yakoob Ali added his name to the try list along with Dyan’s second try moving things to 45-12 at halftime.

Kandy, who already won the league this year, went further ahead through second half tries from Nigel Ratwatte, Ranjan and Uchitha Jayasuirya to ratchet up 64 points. Air Force replied with a try of their own in the latter half. Kandy will have games against CR, CH and Havelocks at home.

Navy outclass Army

Navy continued their dominance in round two when they scored their second consecutive win as they outclassed Army 28-10 in a second half rally where they scored two unanswered tries. Thilina Weerasinghe, Stefan Gregory and Charith Silva scored for the sailors. For the soldiers, Bulathsinhala scored the only try with Gayan Salinda converting it and putting over a penalty. Army are losing their grip on things in the second round of the competition with them suffering their second defeat in a row.