Kandy SC in must-win game

West Asian Club Championship 2017 

By Shamseer Jaleel 

The Kandy Sports Club will be up against the Bahrain Rugby Football Club in a must-win game in order to secure the West Asian Club Championship 2017 at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium today.

Kickoff is scheduled for 4.00 p.m. Sri Lanka, after finishing level with the Abu Dhabi Harlequins (29-29), will be strengthened with the return of their regular skipper Gayan Weeraratne but Sooriyabandara was a last-minute replacement for Buddhima Piyaratne who went to South Korea with the national Sevens outfit. Gayan coming into the team will add a much-needed morale boost for the team. Kandy performed remarkably well in the opening game with Thilina Wijesinghe, Yakoob Ali and Damith Dissanayake being outstanding both in attack and defence. 

Kandy will miss a few leading players due to injury worries and national Sevens duty in South Korea at the Asian Sevens second leg this weekend. Shehan Pathirana, Richard Dharmpala, Nigel Ratwatte, Roshan Weeraratne and Fazil Marija will miss out due to injuries but they are recovering fast and will be ready for the season kickoff in two months’ time. 

Meanwhile, Dhanushka Ranjan, Dhanushka Dyan, Srinarth Sooriyabandara and Jason Dissanayake are all on tour with the national Sevens squad in South Korea. 

There are some youngsters who performed remarkably well too and will be in the starting line-up for the upcountry outfit. 

Former Isipathana and Havelocks player Ashan Darling, Lakshitha Ranaweera, Heshan Jensen, Chathura Seneviratne and Diluksha Dange will be playing. The referee for the game is Norman Drake from the UAE while the assistant referees will be Dinka Peris and Irshard Cader.