Kaliova inspires Cops to take down Soldiers
The Cops powered their way to a third win of the season, scoring five tries, a conversion and a penalty, and swapped places with the Soldiers to move into fifth position on the table. Army SC, who had the same number of wins as their opponents coming into the game, ended the day with their fifth defeat after being restricted to two unconverted tries, one in each half.
Police flanker Sameera Jayasinghe finds a gap in the Army defence to touch down. Pic by Eshan Fernando
Police made an early inroad when lock Heshan Kalhara was driven over by his forwards to touch down in the third minute for the opening try, which went unconverted. However, the Soldiers responded with pressure of their own as winger Prasanna Jayatunga found a gap to sprint through and equalise at 5-all by the 12th minute.
Soon after Army SC lost playmaker and winger Sudaraka Dikkumbura to a yellow card in the 19th minute, the Cops wasted little time in adding their second try through centre Kaliova, who breached the defence single-handedly to touch down. Flyhalf Pasindu Tharuka added the conversion to stretch the lead to 12-5.
Just as Dikkumbura was about to rejoin the field, Police lost Kaliova to a yellow card for a high tackle. The Soldiers, however, failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage and instead succumbed to pressure, conceding another try as flanker Sameera Jayasinghe crossed over on the brink of halftime.
Holding a comfortable 17-5 lead at the break, the Cops came under pressure as the Soldiers altered their pattern of play to frustrate their opponents. A trademark drive paved the way for Army flanker Tharun Warnasuriya to touch down in the 44th minute, narrowing the deficit to 10-17.
That, however, was as far as Army SC could go. Fullback Tharuka, who succeeded with one of his three kicking attempts, slotted a penalty in the 65th minute to extend Police’s lead to 20-10. Kaliova then produced two clever attacking moves in the 68th and 77th minutes, both of which ended with winger Sujan Kodituwakku crossing over to seal a bonus-point victory.