Airmen shoot down Army 25-15
Air Force Sports Club kept their momentum high in laying hands on the Plate Championship of the SLR-Maliban Club Rugby League 2025/26, with a hostile 25-12 win against Army Sports Club at Panagoda yesterday.
Adding another bonus-point win, the Airmen braced four tries, converting one of them and putting over a penalty, while holding a slender 10-5 lead at halftime. The Soldiers, who were gritty, yet luckless, played with powerful but managed only two tries and a conversion.
Army indicated their intentions early on with attacking play that ended up with No.8 Danushka Pushpakumara bracing a try after a solo run in the tenth minute to take a lead of 5-0. They repeated the same effort when flanker Tharun Warnasuriya landed a brilliant try on the left flank, which was later disallowed after it was cited a knock on after referring to the TMO in the 14th minute.
But the Airmen gradually returned to their usual form and turned around the table in their favour with a brilliant running try from hooker Shamika Kaushan to equalise 5-all in the 22nd minute. Another similar effort, which ended up resulting in flyhalf Arosh Ratnayake bracing an uncoverted try in the 36th minute, put Air Force in front by 10-5 at halftime.
Despite the counter attacks from the Soldiers, the Airmen held their nerves to hold their opponents and score in the 48th minute, as scrumhalf Kaveesha Kaluarachchi put an end to the misery of a long battle after the resumption. With fullback Gayantha Iddamalgoda’s conversion, they expanded the lead to 17-5, but 10 minutes later found themselves dumbfounded when Army centre Dinesh Victor breached their defence for a try. With the conversion of fullback Lahiru Ratnayake, the game became a close battle of five points with Air Force still leading at 17-12.
The Soldiers fought relentlessly to change the momentum of the game with an achievable deficit in sight, but with a penalty kick from Iddamalgoda put the Airmen back in the safe zone with the lead extending to 20-12 with the game drawing to an end. Just before the fulltime, centre Pramod Padmasanka’s unconverted try ended all doubts as Air Force sealed the game took a step closer to the Plate title with a 25-12 win.