Soldiers fight hard, but hill country Rugby was sterner
The Army played some stirring rugby in the first half to lead the champions 17-14 at the break. But Kandy SC weathered that early storm and emerged winners by 29 points (3 goals, a try, a penalty) to 20 (2 goals, 2 penalties) at Ratmalana last evening.
The Soldiers seemed pretty keen on striking the first blow as they kept play in Kandy’s half and forced the champions into a defensive mode. A daring run by winger Richard Dharmapala gave the first hint that Kandy was not to be trifled with. A little chip from fly half Fazil Marija took play deep into Army territory. Centre Dhanushka Ranjan gained possession, made a slicing run and, when tackled, slipped the ball to Dharmapala who went over by the left corner flag. Thilina Wijesinghe made a good conversion.
Completely unfazed by this, the Army sent the ball down the line. Sudharaka Dikkumbura transferred to centre Sameera Bulathsinhalage whose run along the touch line was unstoppable. Full Back Gayan Salinda converted well to tie the scores (7 all).
Army gained the lead when Salinda slotted over a penalty awarded because the Kandy line was off side.
Bulathsinhalage, who had a great game, was in the action once again. He started the move, drew the defence and gave over to winger Manoj Bandara who came round the last defender to touch down. Salinda converted and the Army had a healthy ten point lead at this stage (17-7).
Kandy was not taking this lying down. Their back division spread the ball around and winger Lavanga Perera dived over. Wijesinghe was on target. Lemons were taken at 17-14 in Army’s favour.
The second half was probably a little hum drum and devoid of much excitement. The Army failed to nip a Kandy move in the bud. The upshot of this was that skipper Gayan Weeraratne fought his way over the line in the teeth of opposition from the soldiers. Wijesinghe added the extra points as the visitors took the lead 21-17.
The Army thrower in a line out close to the goal line, made a hash of a long throw. The unexpected gift was delivered into the hands of Heshan Kalhara who duly fell over. This try went unconverted but Kandy had now put some distance between them and the Army.
A penalty conversion by Salinda made the scores a bit closer (26-20). Kandy had the final say when Thilina Wijesinghe kicked an easy penalty to settle the issue (29-20).
A little before that, Kandy got a couple of five yard scrums but were unable to make an impact because of Army’s sturdy defence.
Kandy was without some ‘stars’ – Wilwara, Udangamuwa, Ratwatte and Dissanayake. That may have mattered against a stronger team. However even though the match was not terribly exciting, the champions did enough to win with the bonus point.
Referee – Dinka Pieris.