Havies hand off Air Force

 Action at Havies vs Air Force  

• Havelock SC 49 points
• Air Force 8 points

By Shamseer Jaleel

Havelock Sports Club had a superb second half burst in their opening game against Sri Lanka Air Force when they scored an easy 49 points (7 tries, 4 conversions, 2 penalties) to 8 points (1 try, 1 penalty) to win their Nippon Paint Inter Club Rugby League 2023/2024 encounter which concluded under lights at Havelock Park yesterday.

At the short breather Park Club led 16/8.

Havies put an excellent display of running rugby thanks to 5 unanswered second half tries to ground the Air Force who looked all over and lack of game knowledge and majority of technical faults under their belt. After an eventful first half Air Force ran out of ideas and their poor defence which allowed the Park Club boys to secure points at will. For Havies Dinupa Seneviratne, Musheen Faleel, Abdullah Fayis and Azmir Fajudeen played excellent brand of rugby while for the Air Force it was Gayantha Iddamalgoda who was a lone warrior.

Havies drew first blood in the 2nd minute of the game when Dinupa Seneviratne touched down. Maduwantha missed the conversion but the Air Force reduced the deficit soon after through Gayantha Iddamalgoda penalty. Azmir Fajudeen, Havies skipper who had a grand outing, scored his first try of the game but surprisingly once again Samuel Maduwantha missed the conversion. Air Force scored their only try of the game through Pramod Padmashanka when Maduwantha knocked on a clearance kick. Two more Maduwantha penalty took the Park Club in to short breather with an 8 points lead.

After the turn around it was Havies all the way scoring their second half tries through Dinupa Seneviratne (2), Chanaka Chandimal, Jayathu Rajarathna and Udara Lakshan scored tries for the Park Club.

Referee Gihan Yatawara