CR &
FC late rally fails to stop Kandy SC win
Former
champions Kandy Sports Club survived a strong late rally from CR and FC before
recording a morale boosting 29 points to 15 points victory in their SLRFU
Dialog inter club ‘A’ division league rugby tournament first round rugby encounter
worked off at Longden Place yesterday.
The
visitors after having built up a commanding 21-9 lead at half time came up with
some stiff resistance in the second half as they went on to register their second
straight win with the help of three goals and one try while the home side
responded with four penalties and one drop goal.
This was
of course Kandy SC ’s first real challenge for the current
season after having cruised to a comprehensive 69-6 triumph over CH and FC in
their opening match of the tournament last week at home.
But this
time Kandy SC were under tremendous pressure as they struggled a bit and also
committed a series of errors in the second half which was entirely played under
fading light.
In fact
CR and FC staged a superb late rally to reduce the margin to just one goal mid
way in the second half after full back Reza Mubarak had converted his fourth
successive penalty from 25 metres out.
CR and FC
then brought play into the Kandy
SC territory while forcing a
couple of crucial five metre line outs but they just could not add the
finishing touches and convert pressure into points.
On
another occasion scrum half Kavindu de Costa made a brilliant interception from
their goal line and sliced through the entire Kandy SC
defence but lack of support from the three quarters cost them another
opportunity of scoring.
In
contrast Kandy SC were able to make another splendid start to their campaign as
they completely dominated the early stages while scoring three splendid tries
to set the pace for an easy victory.
Sri Lanka
sevens skipper and dynamic centre three quarter Fazil Marija led the way when
he produced a superb dummy to touch down near the corner flag after the
forwards had won possession from a five metre scrum.
Nippy
scrum half and captain Roshan Weeraratne then produced an outstanding
performance when he powered his way nearly 30 metres through the right flank to
fall over following a superb three quarter move which was initiated in mid
field.
The Kandy SC
three quarters were in excellent form as they completely rattled the CR and FC
defence with dynamic full back Saliya Kumara producing a breathtaking effort to
form the overlap and score almost under the post.
Fly half
Phil Fatumo had a good game for Kandy SC as he converted all three tries in the
first half while CR and FC were able to convert three penalties during this
period through their reliable place kicker and full back Reza Mubarak with fly
half Ralph Laha firing across a drop goal.
In the
second half of course Kandy SC
could add only a try to their tally with Sri Lanka ’s new find Lavanga Perera
penetrating the CR and FC defence following a series of unsuccessful attempts
from the back division.
Referee:
Irshad Cader