Kandy to face stern test in Welisara

By Shamseer Jaleel

Kandy will come under fire in Welisara when they lock horns with the unbeaten Navy Sports Club in one of the major first round club league rugby encounters which will be worked off on 4 December.

Kandy, which is full of national players, have not hit their peak so far this season and have had some off-colour performance. They were beaten by Air Force and then eked out a hard-fought win over Police at home. However, the upcountry lads produced a better display against CH&FC and Army to record two easy wins. 

Meanwhile, Navy have remained unbeaten so far, getting the better of Police, CR&FC, CH&FC and Army. Led by Roshan Ranasinghe, Navy have several class acts in their unit. Sathya Runathunga, Suranga Pushpakumara, Dinusha Fernando and Dhanushka Perera will all look to be at their best to beat Kandy at home. 

Kandy will depend heavily on their three-quarter line to feed the ball. Their forwards are not living up to their expected high standards and this will be a huge worry for the Kandy team as they have two important home matches against CR&FC and Havelocks coming up. 

However, Fazil Marija, Dhanushka Ranjan, Richard Dharmapala, Thilina Wijesinghe and skipper Roshan Weeraratne will be just as eager to get the better of the sailors. Playing away, Kandy need to settle fast to have an edge in the game.

Air Force, after some outstanding performances in their first three outings, went down to CR&FC last weekend. They will be up against last-placed CH&FC at the racecourse rugby grounds. They hold a very clear edge over CH&FC and will look to climb up the points table.

High-riding CR&FC will be hosting Police who are still to find their feet. Led by Sambandaperuma, the Red Shirts have some class players in their ranks such as Shashan Mohamed, Tharinda Ratwatte, Ishan Noor, Tariq Salley and the Costa brothers. Australian-born Rowan Perry is likely to make his club debut for CR&FC in this outing. Playing at Centre, Tharinda Ratwatte had an excellent outing in CR’s last game. 

Coached by Sudath Sampath, Police played well in patches against Kandy last weekend but they need to finish off their good moves by scoring. They will depend heavily on Musheen Faleel and Radheesha Seneviratne and will expect Reza Rafaideen to return to the team after injury.The other unbeaten team in the league, Havelocks, will be under pressure against an unlucky Army who lost out in their games against CR&FC and Navy by a mere point.

Havelocks will depend on Sudharshan Muthuthanthri, Mithun Hapugoda, Sharo Fernando and Dulaj Perera to take them through and continue their unbeaten run in the league. The soldiers will be backed by skipper Manoj and Gayan Salinda. Currently, Havies (23) head the points table followed by Navy (22) and Kandy (19).