Late second half rally takes Kandy through

Text and pics by Shamseer Jaleel

• Kandy SC 45 points
• CH & FC 15 points

Kandy Sports Club, thanks to a late second half rally, pulled off a good 45 points (six tries, six conversions, one penalty) to 15 points (two tries, one conversion, one penalty) win over CH & FC in their inter-club second round rugby encounter which took place at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium yesterday.

At the short breather, winners led 17/0.

Both teams played a scrappy affair full of errors in the early half but the home team settled in well after 30 minutes of play. Acting skipper of Kandy SC, Damith Dissanayake, Tharinda Ratwatte and Tharindu Chanaka all three played a major part for the Up Country outfit. CH too defended very well early in the first half. There were some superb cover tackles by both CH wingers, Chamara Dabare and Anuradha Herath who played outstanding games for their club. Credit should be given to Kandy who played minus Dhanushka Ranjan, Shehan Pathirana, skipper Nigel Ratwatte all due to injury concerns.

Kandy drew first blood in the eighth minute of the game through a neat 30 meter penalty by Tharinda Ratwatte. Two first half tries through Buddhima Piyaratne and Tharindu Chanaka plus Tharinda’s successful conversions gave them a 17 to nothing lead at the breather.

After the short breather Kandy scored quickly through Buwanaka Udangamuwa try. Tharinda was on target with the kick. Then CH hit back in the next 15 minutes through a good 15 points to come back in to the game. Nishon Perera, Prasad Madushanka scored a try a piece with Samuel Maduwantha penalty plus conversion gave them a glimmer of hope at 15/25 trailing by just nine points. Then Samuel Maduwantha attempted a 55 meters penalty unsuccessfully which was the last effort by the Colombo Club who ran away out of steam.

As in many earlier occasions Kandy ran riot at Nittawela in the last 10 minutes with three converted tries through Tharindu Chanaka, Shashika Jayawardena and Buwanaka Udangamuwa. Tharinda Ratwatte who had a grand game converted all three of them.

Referee Dilum Dheeshana.

Kandy heads the table with 52 points followed by CR & FC with 38 points. The Up Country team will need to travel down to steamy Colombo on two more occasions against the Navy and Army before their last three home games against CR & FC, Havelock SC and Police SC which will take place at Nittawela.