Red Shirts champs again
The Red Shirts were threatening and physical from the kickoff, leaving the title holders Kandy SC in tatters, and eventually forcing star winger Dinal Ekanayake out of the game with a red card in the 13th minute. No sooner the hosts reacted against a 14-man Kandy SC to brace their first try off flanker Omalka Gunaratne the very next minute following a maul and couple of rucks, as centre Thenuka Nanayakkara put over to give them an early 7-0 lead.
CR&FC gained yards after halftime with their Tongan forward Enesi Waqanisau came into action - Pic by Eshan Fernando
Despite being cut off to 14 men, Kandy responded brilliantly with two perfectly created tries. Lock Thilina Bandara went over in the 23rd minute under-the-post, and with scrumhalf Shahid Zumri’s conversion Kandy equalised. Four minutes later they crafted another try in similar fashion with flanker Tharindu Chathuranga bracing the try this time. With scrumhalf Aruna Perera’s conversion Kandy led 14-7 up until the halftime.
The Red Shirts bridged the gap with a penalty put over by Nanayakkara in the 53rd minute, after the resumption to close in by 14-10. Four minutes later they stunned the entire Kandy defence by pulling off a blinder with winger Chamod Muthunayake finding the gap to brace an unconverted try far left to take a slender 15-14 lead.
The Red Shirts expanded the lead to a healthy 20-14, when scrumhalf Viduna Amaneth grabbed a wager from Zumri to run crisscross and post another unconverted try in the 70th minute as CR sensed a potential win. But the flow took a surprise turn when Zumri amended his previous mistake with a productive one, to find centre Diluksha Dange brace a try under-the-post with four minute away from the long whistle. With Perera’s conversion, Kandy regained the lead by a slender 21-20.
With less than a minute to walk away from a famous win, Kandy failed to defend in their own half, as CR No.8 Lasindu Karunathilake made a crucial turnover and forced their opponents to concede a penalty, just as it occurred last week. Like last week, Nanayakkara put over the penalty to see his team walk out as Kandy agonizingly succumbed to CR for the third successive time this season.