Oshan Perera of Kandy SC is well tackled by Musheen Faleel of Navy SC

Tharinda Ratwatte of Kandy SC dummies his way through in their Navy encounter at Nittawela

• Kandy SC 16 Points
• Navy SC 14 points

Text and pix by Shamseer Jaleel

Kandy Sports Club pulled off a hard fought win over the Sailors 16-14 at Nittawela last weekend. The Up Country outfit is going to be tested in their Colombo games where they will need to travel down to Colombo on no less than four occasions in round one. Elsewhere, there were wins for CR & FC, Police SC and Army SC in the second week’s encounters.

Kandy were tested fully, and they were really lucky to pull off a hard fought win against the Sailors at Nittawela. When the score stood at 16-14 favouring Kandy, the visitors were awarded a penalty 40 meters away from the goal post. Chathura Seneviratne, who is known for his distance kicking range, got the distance right but the direction was not there. This cost the Navy a win they even wouldn’t have dreamed off, that too at Nittawela which is a difficult task for any team. At the short breather it was one way traffic with Kandy leading 16-0.

Kandy did dominate proceedings in the first half but the second half was completely dominated by the Sailors. Kandy will need to go back to basics on their line out throws which were far below standards. For Kandy Tharinda Ratwatte, Nigel Ratwatte and Kavindu Perera played well, while for the visitors it was Musheen Faleel, Chathura Seneviratne and Adeesha Weeratunge who were outstanding.

Kandy scored their tries through Kavindu Perera and Oshan Perera with Thilina Wijesinghe doing the kicking duties, while the Sailors tries were scored by Adeesha Weerathunge and Gihan Perera with Thilina Weerasinghe doing the kicking duties. 

First win for Police

• Police SC 36 points
• Havelock SC 24 Points

Police Sports Club put up a brave second half effort in order to put an end to Havies unbeaten run in the league.

It was a tale of two half’s where the first one belonged to the visitors while the second half owners were the Park Club. No one would have given a chance for the Park Club to come so close when they were down with 23 points at halftime.

Police SC’s Fijian, Emosi Vunivosa, had a grand outing both in attack as well in defence.Police tries were scored by Kasun Suranga (2), Vunivosa, Sachith Silva and Janith Chandimal with Chandimal and Yohan Peiris doing the kicking duties, while for the losers their tries were scored by Abdullah Faiz, Shawkat Lahir and Keshan Kavinda, with Prince Chamara doing the kicking duties.

Both the Park Cub and the Cops have a win and defeat under their belts in their two concluded encounters so far.(SJ) 

CR continue winning streak

• CR & FC 23 points
• CH & FC 17 points

The Red Shirts continue their winning streak in the league under national skipper Omalka Gunaratne as they edged out CH & FC in a hard fought win. At the short breather CR led 17-7.

CH scored their tries through prop forward Sathya Runathunge (2) and Prasad Madushanka. Arshad Jamaldeen did the kicking duties. For the Red Shirts the tries were scored and then converted by Reza Mubarak. (SJ)

Maiden win for Army

• Army SC 26 Points
• Air Force 8 Points

Army put up a good effort to beat Air Force 26-8 at Welisara. Army the “Dark Horse” of the tournament led 12-3 at the short breather. This was their first win after drawing against CH in their opening encounter.

Only three teams remain unbeaten so far in the tournament. They are CR & FC, Army SC and Kandy SC. (SJ)