Kandy favourites at Nittawela
The road to the Clifford Cup final was short, but hard –especially for one of the finalists. However, Justice has been served and the best two teams have made it to the final on Sunday at Nittawela.
Kandy SC has the luxury of playing all their games at their impregnable bastion. There was no travelling involved. It may sound a harsh, but that is the privilege extended to an eighteen-time league champion.
Kandy by dint of their standing in local rugby deserves to be talked about first. “It is meet and right so to do”. The annihilation of the CH was for starters. Mid-week they silenced the guns of the CR&FC, who were expected to give more of a fight. May be the Red Card to Ratwatte drove the nail into the coffin.
But, in truth, it was only Kandy who played with purpose, power and punch throughout the eighty minutes. They may have snatched forty winks on a couple of occasions in the course of the match. Yet, they did it when they were well in front and it didn’t matter. Moreover, there was always the feeling that Kandy could pull out all the stops, if need be.
The Havies lost their earlier games 30-39 in Kandy and 11-26 at the Park. They need no reminding how tough their task is. Has their quiet unobtrusive coach Ronnie Ibrahim something more up his sleeve? Not many expect the Park Club to dump the champions. Yet, there is no harm in trying. A defeat would be par for the course; a win would give the team that over the moon feeling.
Kandy SC (Probable): Ganuka Dissanayake, Damith Dissanayake, Yaqoob Ali, Suhiru Anthony, Dimitri Wijetunga, Shehan Pathirana, Tharindu Chaturanga, Buvaneka Udangamuwa, Roshan Weeraratne (Capt), Fazil Marija, Vishvamitra Jayasinghe, Gayan Weeraratne, Danushka Ranjan, Richard Dharmapala, Thilina Wijesinghe. Coach – Sean Wijesinghe.
Havelocks (Probable): Dushmantha Priyadarshana (Capt), Prasath Madushan, Ashan Darling, Janik Jayasuriya, Sithum Peiris, Ganidu Lakshan, Senal Deelaka, Sudarshana Muthuthanthri, Sudham Suriyarachchi, Niroshan Fernando, Chamara Dabare, Hirantha Perera, Nishon Perera, Vimukthi Rahula, Kevin Dixon. Coach – Ronnie Ibrahim - AK