Monday Sep 23, 2024
Monday Sep 23, 2024
Monday, 13 November 2017 00:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
CR Skipper Tharinda Ratwatte in action
The Havelocks Sports Club continued their good form when they outclassed Sri Lanka Air Force, who are without a regular coach after they opted to get rid of Ronny Ibrahim for unstated reasons.
Havies in the end registered an easy win courtesy of eight tries to the visitors’ two tries.
Havies skipper Jason Melder missed out on the encounter due to an injury but the Park Club looked hungry for a huge win but seemed deficient in defence in the latter half of the game when the Air Force outfit was allowed to cross over for two quick tries.
Havies scored through national player Sharo Fernando, who eluded a few defenders to touch down, but Charith Seneviratne’s two penalties propelled the visitors into the lead. But the park club’s two tries through Prasad Madushanka and Nishon Perera helped the home side secure a 15-6 lead. National Sevens player Hirantha Perera took them to a bonus point win but Air Force reduced the deficit through another penalty.
Dushmantha Priyadarshana scored the first try in the second half but Reza Mubarak seemed to have left his kicking boots at home. Radheesha Seneviratne, the former Vidyartha and Police player who is now turning out for Air Force, brushed past many defenders to score for the visitors.
Tries from Havies’ Kevin Dixon and Parakrama Rathnayake of Air Force pushed the score to 32-23 in favour of the park club. Dixon and his schoolmate Perera then scored tries that lifted Havelocks to a comfortable 46-23 win.
Superb second half rally takes Army through
A superb second half rally gave the soldiers their first win of the season, as they got the better of CH 20-15 after trailing 12-15 at halftime at racecourse grounds.
Asoka Jayalal, Ashan Bandara and Gayan Salinda were outstanding for the winners while the losers were not too far away with some gutsy performances from Lee Keegale, Sathya Ranathunge and Terence Henry.
Tharinda takes CR to a magnificent win
A magnificent individual display by national Sevens players Tharinda Ratwatte and Omalka Gunaratne saved CR from a certain defeat to spur them to a memorable 38-23 win over the sailors. At halftime it was Navy who led comfortably 23-7.
The home team brought in two replacements in former Royal number 8 Supun Warnakulasuriya and former Trinity winger Sashan Mohammad who both displayed some excellent rugby to score two tries within the space of four minutes. Former Trinity fly half Ratwatte, who was in cracking form, scored 23 points for the Longden Place club. CR forwards coach Dushantha Lewke should be given credit for the work he has done with the team to get them into good shape.
Kandy getting into peak form
Defending league champions Kandy got into good form when they beat Police 43-11 after leading 31-6 at halftime.
Kandy full back Thilina Wijesinghe was in fine form, scoring a hat-trick followed by a brace from Jason Dissanayake. But the best try of the evening came through the individual brilliance of Dhanushka Ranjan, who covered nearly 40 meters past four Police players to score.
The last Kandy try was scored after several nifty passes which saw the ball end up in the hands of winger Lavanga Perera, who touched down for his first try of the season.
Kandy skipper Gayan Weeraratne was also in brilliant form though his name was not on the score sheet. He was instrumental in three of Kandy’s tries.
After two weeks of matches, Kandy, Havelocks and CR look the three most threatening outfits with Navy also looking capable of upsetting any of these three teams. They will play their third game at home against Army next Sunday.
Havelocks continue to lead the points table with back-to-back bonus point wins followed by Kandy and CR.
