CR & FC late rally fails to stop Kandy SC win

CR & FC late rally fails to stop Kandy SC win

Chris Dhambarage

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