Kandy guns down Army at Nittawela

By Shamseer Jaleel

Kandy continued their dominance at home when they outclassed a gutsy Army outfit by 50 points (8 tries, 5 conversions) to 19 points (3 tries, 2 conversions) at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium over last week-end.

At the short breather Kandy led 28/7.

Kandy put up a magnificent performance, their home record sheet looks untouched not only this season but for the last few years. Injured Fazil Marija and Buwankan Udangamuwa gave way to Nigel Ratwatte and Heshan Kalhara for this outing. Kandy from the kick-off looked a faster, well-organized unit. They were back on track for the title and hungry to prove their point that they were the best in the league. Other than the early second half where the Soldiers looked like making a come-back, it was Kandy’s dominance that was evident. The usually powerful three quarter line was well supported by the forwards with the inclusion of young blood Yakoob Ali who had a grand outing along with Sayuru Anrthony. In the three quarter line as usual centre Dhanushka Ranjan looked dangerous in attack along with Nigel Ratwatte who, playing his first game after an injury, shined like a star. Richard Djarmapala had an average game with a number of mistakes and errors in judgment.

Kandy centre Dhanushka Ranjan with the ball with support coming from Gayan Weeraratne

​Kandy drew first blood in the very first minute of the game when Skipper Roshan Weeraratne dummied his way for an under-the-post try. Full back Thilina Wijesinghe added the extra 2 points. The second Kandy try came through some powerful forwards play where Yakoob Ali almost took the ball to the try line, covering nearly 25 meters, giving it to Damith Dissanayake to touch down. Thilina was accurate with his kick at goal. The third Kandy try was a special one as Roshan Weeraratne opted a reverse pass which foxed the entire Army unit, resulting in a try for Richard Dharmapala. Army, playing some attacking rugby, scored through forward Asok Jayalal. Full back Gayan Salinda added the extra 2 points to cut the deficit to 21/7 but Shehan Pathirana had time for a try before the short blast for Kandy to take a comfortable 28/7 lead at half time.

Kandy SC flanker Kalhara on the  move

After the turn-around Army settled well and attacked through their powerful forwards with a number of phases but Kandy too lived up to their high standards with some gutsy defense. Army winger Thusith Senanayake scored but Salinda failed to add the extras. Roshan Weearatne scored soon afterwards to increase the lead to 33/12. Army, who kept attacking, scored through skipper Manoj Silva. Salinda added the extras. But Kandy had a late burst of three tries through Sayuru Anthony and two by replacement Uchith Jayasuriya to score a half a century and await a CR encounter next weekend in Colombo.

The referee was Priyantha Gunaratne. The assistant referees were Priya Susantha and Muthumala. The Match Commissioner was Kavinda Jayasinghe.