Kandy keep unbeaten tag intact after round one

Wednesday, 13 January 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kandy SC winger Lavanga Perera is held by Navy number 8 Omalka Gunaratne

Kandy SC Scrum half Roshan Weeraratne in attacking way Navy players Sajith Saranga and hanushka Perera try to stop his move

By Shamseer Jaleel

Kandy Sports Club continued its unbeaten run and the lead in the Inter Club league rugby encounter which concluded last weekend at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium. Their last opponent was the Sailors but beating Kandy in Kandy is a difficult task for any Colombo teams.

The packed house at Nittawela was dished out with some quality rugby for the rugby crazy fans from Kandy witnessing a 29/10 win for the home team in a tensed battle ending a three-year losing streak to the Sailors at Nittawela.

Second half rally sees CR through

After trailing 10/15 at the short breather “Red Shirts” stormed back to beat Air Force 46/15 in an Inter-Club Rugby League Tournament match played at Ratmalana last week-end. CR and FC was put under severe pressure when the Airmen played quality rugby but the Longdon place club hit back with some powerful runs in the second half through their speedy three quarters to seal the victory.

This season for CR&FC though with some quality players with younger generations failed to live up to expected standards. Head Coach Imthisam Marrikar will need to re-group the lads in the second half to end on top two.

Police edge out Army in a tense battle

Police SC recorded a thrilling 47/45 win over the Soldiers last weekend in Diyagama.

After a close battle, which prevailed throughout the entire game, Army took the short breather at 24/17 but the Cops hit back through some powerful play. It was their fly half, former Kingswoodian and Sri Lanka Under20 player Reza Rafaideen, who contributed 32 points, was the highlight of the a thrilling win. Cops scored from seven tries, three conversions and two penalties while the Soldiers replied with six converted tries and a penalty.

Havies outclass CH

The last weekend of the first round of matches kicked off with the second placed Havies hitting back strongly after being beaten by the defending champions Kandy. Havies scored at will giving some much needed exposure for the bench in the latter half of play.

Kandy outclass Navy in a tensed battle

Kandy Sports Club continued their dominance in club rugby with the help of a second half rally to down the Sailors 29/10 in a tensed battle at Nittawela in front of a packed house.

Navy settled down fast in the first half dominating proceedings with some superb attacking rugby scoring one converted try but they continue to lose points through some indiscipline play which cost them 5 penalties against them. On stroke of half time Chanaka Chandimal executed a neat drop goal to cut the deficit to 5 points. After the turn around it was one way traffic as Kandy played running rugby through their caged three quarter line who cut lose to score 2 converted tries. Out of the 29 points 24 of them were scored by Kandy full back Nigel Ratwatte who stood out in defense as well in attack.

Kandy not only ended round 1 on top but also they remained unbeaten. Their three key second round encounters against CR & FC, Police SC and Havies SC will be played at home with one tough assignment against the Sailors to be played at Welisara. Kandy will face CH & FC in their first outing at Race Course grounds.