Havelocks down Police amidst fire crackers
View(s):Havelocks withered a late Police rally to win their Dialog League Second-Round rugby encounter by 21 points (two tries, one conversion, three penalties) to 7 (one try, one penalty) under floodlights at the Havelock Park yesterday. Havelocks led 10-0 at the breather.
No way! A Havelocks player runs into a Police tackle – Pic by Amila Gamage
The Police came back in fits and starts but they were unable to counter the superior Havelocks play. Added to that, Police did not have a reliable place kicker to make sure of the penalties that came their way, losing valuable points in the process.
Havelocks soared into a 3-0 lead early in the game with stand off Dulaj Perera converting a penalty Havies scored again. This time their Tongan player Josh Kaifi scored far right and the Park Club gained a 10-0 lead amidst a burst of crackers.
Police missed a chance of scoring with Samantha Lakshantha missing a penalty. Lemons were taken with Havies ahead at 10-0.
After the re-start Police gained territorial advantage and their Fijian power-house Sauri scored and place kicker Samantha Lakshan was on target to take their score to 7. (10-7)
When everything pointed to a close battle in the second session Dulaj Perera was successful with two penalties to put the Park Club firmly ahead at 16-7. Then came Dushmantha Priyadarshana’s push over try off a three-quarter move which put the Park Club ahead at 21-7. This try came during the last few minutes and Havelocks held on to win the game.
A feature of the game was that whenever Havelocks scored their fans were ready with crackers to celebrate the occasion. On one instance a fan went a step further and fired a sky rocket into the ground causing panic amongst spectators and fans.
The Havelocks won their first round game and are currently lying tenth in a League Table.
Referee: Aruna
Rankothge.