Kandy beat Havies in thriller

Monday, 6 January 2025 02:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Nigel Ratwatte of Kandy SC makes the final try scoring move

By Shamseer Jaleel

The Kandy Sports Club showed that playing in daylight or under lights will not make a difference, as they produced some stunning rugby spanning out for the entire 80 minutes of play plus injury time when they stunned hosts Havelock Sports Club 24/20 through a fantastic last-minute try initiated by Nigel Ratwatte which saw Dinal Ekanayake going over the line.

Kandy were down to 14 players at the 23rd minute of the game when their winger, Kavindu Perera, went for a high tackle on Mohamed Rifan, the Havies nippy scrum-half. The lads from the Up Country were 10 points down at the short breather, but they kept their cool and never panicked.

Winning a penalty in the very last minute of play, Kandy worked through their forwards towards the right end of the try line and foxed the entire Havies outfit when Nigel Ratwatte, at electrifying speed, worked the three-quarter line and then saw their dashing winger, Dinal Ekanayake, going over for the winning try.

Havies played well in the initial half with their forwards in excellent form. Skipper Faiz Abdullah and Azmir Fajudeen were omnipresent, having some fantastic play by the forwards. Their line too looked threatening with Jayathu Rajarathne in top gear most of the time while on attack.

Meanwhile, Kandy looked cool and composed in their approach. As usual, they took time to settle, but losing out Kavindu Perera for a Red Card and Tharinda Ratwatte for a shoulder injury broke the backbone of their attacking line. With plenty of experience, Nigel Ratwatte, Danushka Ranjan, and skipper Sooriyabandara took them through to the end.

Havies scored first early in the first minute through a Samuel Maduwantha penalty but Kandy hit back through a Tharinda Ratwatte try and conversion under the posts.

Havies hit back when their centre, Shaahid Zumri’s lob pass was intercepted beautifully by Jayathu Rajaratne to score under the posts, and Maduwantha added the extras to take the lead 10/7, favouring the Park Club. One more penalty by Maduwantha and Tari took the score line to 13/10 a minute before the short breather. Havies, attacking from the right corner, saw a gaping hole when hooker Azmir Fajudeen dived over and Maduwantha converted to take a 20/10 lead.

After the breather, Mohamed Akeel touched down for Kandy and Nigel Ratwatte added the extras. Then came the last minute try by Dinal – which, too, was converted beautifully from the left corner by Nigel – to continue their winning streak in the league. Referee Kelum Sandaruwan had a decent game, though missing out on a possible card on a high tackle by a Havies player on Shaahid Zumri near his neck area, which went unnoticed by both the Assistant Referee and himself.