Clinical Airmen snatch stunning win over brave Soldiers
The Airmen, who trailed 10-12 at halftime, used technical structure, strong set-piece discipline and cool heads under pressure to wrest back control in a seesaw contest that swung like a pendulum from start to finish. Eventually, they managed to thwart an avenging Army unit by finishing with a tally of three converted tries and a penalty, against the three tries and two conversions recorded by their opponents.
Army SC were stubbornly attacking in the final minutes to grab a win that would have been stunning, but Air Force were resilient in their defence - Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Both teams came out firing from the kickoff, trading blows early. Air Force and Army each scored a converted try inside the first 13 minutes, bringing the scores level at 7-all as the game began to turn into a tactical arm-wrestle. Air Force flyhalf Gayantha Iddamalgoda, showing sharp awareness, struck a clean penalty in the 14th minute to nudge the hosts ahead 10-7.
Army responded with heavy artillery up front. In the 32nd minute, prop Lakshan Jayawardena crashed over in the mid-left off a powerful rolling maul. Flyhalf Lahiru Ratnayake missed the conversion, but the Soldiers marched into the break with a narrow 12-10 advantage, a lead they maintained up until halftime.
Air Force turned the screws early in the second half. Their forwards tightened the formation and hooker Shamika Kaushan peeled off a maul to score in the 45th minute. Skipper Iddamalgoda added the extras as the Airmen reclaimed the lead 17-12. But their momentum stalled when they went down to 14 men with a yellow card in the 49th minute, putting their defence under the pump. Army seized that window. Burly prop Ijas Ahmed powered through another maul in the 53rd minute, and this time Ratnayake nailed the conversion to push the Soldiers ahead once more at 19-17, turning the match into a full-blown battle of wills.
But the Air Force refused to fold. Showing grit and smart game management, they struck again in the 62nd minute when vice-captain and hooker Kaushan completed his brace with another well-controlled maul try. Iddamalgoda, calm under pressure, sent over a brilliant conversion to set the final scoreboard at 24-19, after defending their territory against the rampaging Soldiers, who fought till the last drop.