CR stun Kandy ending 27-year-old wait

Action at CR vs Kandy

•  Beat defending champs at their own den 38 to 26 points

By Shamseer Jaleel

CR & FC produced Champion rugby when they ended their 27 year old wait to beat Kandy Sports Club in an Inter Club League rugby encounter in the Central hills by 38 points (6 tries, 4 conversions) to 26 points (4 tries, 3 conversions) at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium last evening.

Last CR win at Nittawela was in 1996 under Viraj Prashanth in a league encounter, who is also the present Kandy SC forwards coach.

At the short breather it was CR who led 26/7.

The game was contested at a very good pace with Red Shirts forwards showing great commitment and speed which shocked the experienced Kandy SC outfit. Adeesha Weerathunge, Mursheed Doray, Lasindu Karunathilake, Manilka Ruberu and Gemunu Chethiya were outstanding in both defence as well in attack for the Longdon Place club. They landed the defending champions with 4 early tries in the initial half which was too much for a comeback game. They created gaping holes in the experienced Kandy three quarter line in the initial half. Red Shirts forwards ghosting moves were a constant occurrence which put Kandy SC defence all over.

Meanwhile Kandy SC was shocked the way things turned out to be in the initial half. They took time to settle down but again in the later half with poor defence cost them three more unanswered tries. Tarinda Ratwatte, Nigel Ratwatte, Srinarth Sooriyabandara and Tharindu Chathuranga played well for the upcountry club. Once Sooriyabandara came back to the base of the scrum in the later half brought Kandy two quick tries within five minutes and the difference was just one try away but CR regrouped to score two more late second half tries to pull off a famous win which they waited for more than two decades.

CR drew first blood in the very first minute through Manilka Ruberu blazing through the Kandy line to touch down. Thenuka Nanayakkara added the extra two points. Both teams settled down in the next 10 minutes which saw Tarinda Ratwatte touching down and converting to equalise the score at 7-a-piece. A try each for Red Shirts Adeesha Weerathunge, Kavindu de Costa and Gemunu Chethiya took CR into a comfortable 26/7 lead at the short breather. Thenuka was on target with two of the conversions.

After the turn around Kandy scored two quick tries through Tharindu Chathuranga and Nigel Ratwatte within a space of five minutes which took them to 26/21 but CR hit back through Kusal Tharindu and Adeesha Weerathunge tries. Kandy scored their losing bonus point 4th try through Dinal Ekanayake.

Referee was Gihan Yatawara.

Kandy SC honoured Nigel Ratwatte prior to the game by naming a stand in his name. Nigel has been playing for Kandy SC since 2015 and led the team for three years without losing a single game. Since he joined the upcountry club, Kandy never lost the league during the eight years plus won the Clifford Cup knockout plus sevens every time he played during this time period.