Havelocks SC vs CR and FC: Along came a Saliya…

Fast rising Head Coach and WR Educator Saliya Kumara finally came of age in 2024 after combining top notch Rugby skills with match winning tactics to beat the League Champs SPC, and sustained his new found formula to elude and entrap an unsuspecting CR camp, that may have found its opponent to be unworthy, following their semi-dismal performance against CH on the previous weekend, where they barely scraped through to a win.

The horrendous discipline displayed by Havies at the game against CH, giving away an immature 20 plus penalties with 2 yellow cards to show for it, bundled with a handful of wayward place and touch kicking that one wouldn’t expect from a schoolboy rugby legend, could have fooled anyone to take their game lightly.

Saliya’s Havies always had the need to attack at speed, even in the season prior, but lacked key pieces of the game to be able to get the better of the big guns. However on this occasion, his team burst out a sparkling performance, but now, fully equipped with the missing key gameplay elements, to invoke wheezing amongst the League winners of yesteryear. The basics of the game demand, even highly skilled attacking teams to hold onto precious possession, in order to convert their offensive efforts into points. This was primarily achieved by near-zero handling errors, consisting of just 2 wayward passes, but absolutely no knock-ons; not even forced KOs. This rare feat was further backed by reasonable discipline, of an acceptable 11 infringements. The rejuvenated kicking Boots of Samuel Maduwantha further added fury to the attack as he skilfully, accurately and effortlessly drew perfect arcs from tight angles, piercing the giant sticks, and to the farthest touchlines, ultimately living up to his reputation. 

However, the ultimate trump card that propelled Havelocks to the forefront, and left the visitors distressed and trailing relentlessly, was their decisive tactic to overcome CR’s choking rush defence. We have observed in the past that CR defence has been hard to breach, mainly due to its impenetrable formation, coupled with super-quick rush and drift defences. Nevertheless, a paralysing rush defence aggressively executed by the backline leaves it as (almost) the last line of defence, which Saliya Kumara exploited with well-rehearsed short punts over the defenders, that continuously put the Ball behind the CR defence into an open area that enabled them to run and score Tries. In addition, Havies made a couple of well anticipated and pre-orchestrated interceptions at lightning speeds out of the blues, that not only destructed CR’s ongoing onslaughts, but also earned them 2 bonus Tries.

This brings up the question, “what happened to the usual, dominating CR game?” Well, CR neither did anything particularly wrong nor particularly exemplary in this game. Their 10 fouls and 5 unforced knock-ons aren’t particularly terrible. However, Havies’ superior tackling added 3 forced knock-ons to CR’s list of blunders, extending the switch of possessions to the home team’s advantage. Another crucial game changer was the fact that Saliya’s Camp pounced on every single opportunity as if there’s no tomorrow, mirroring the urgency, meticulousness and bravery of the legendary Spartans. They made no errors in their onslaughts, converting every opportunity into Tries.

CR’s ‘hands in the Ruck’ penalty earlier on in the game directly led to a converted Try.

CR’s ‘not releasing’ foul directly earned Havies their third Try

A ‘high tackle’ infringement by CR that also warranted a yellow card, presented the home team their fourth Try

A clearance kick from around CR’s 22 that went full out, gifted the opposition a lineout throw from which they secured their fifth Try, which made them 30+ strong at the short whistle.

In the second half, a knock-on at a crucial point in CR territory empowered the home team to attack using a well-rehearsed drill to get to Try #6.

Rinesh Silva’s blunder in tampering with a touch kick that was headed out, switched fortunes to award the opposition to throw the Ball in, and score the 7th Try.

Although one could argue that it wasn’t CR’s day, or the fortune favoured the brave, and indeed it would be a justifiable comment, as we have witnessed not-so-lucky days of teams in seasons past, including the 1996 Cricket WC Final, in which absolutely everything went down under for the Aussies. Nevertheless, the fact remains that on this day, ‘along came a Saliya, and scared CR off the turf, rendering their stock of curds and whey inadequate’.

Result : Havelock SC beat CR & FC 53-42