Nigel Ratwatte of Kandy SC slungs out a pass to make a three quarter move as Avantha Lee the CH skipper looks on
Kandy, CR and FC, Havelocks and Police Sports Club notched up victories in their respective matches played in inaugural week for the Nippon Paint Sri Lanka Rugby Major League Rugby Tournament last week.
In the curtain raiser game at Havelock Park, host Havelock launched their season with a bang by crushing Air Force with a massive 49 points to 8 win after leading 16-8 at the breather under lights.
The new look Park Club team with the inclusion of a blend of youth and experience this season is led by the dynamic front row player Azmir Fajudeen. His team put up a splendid performance from the start as they made their initial scoring just in the second minute of the game. Even though they were restricted to16 points by the short whistle against 8 scored by their rivals which remained unchanged until the long whistle, the Park club lads bounced back gallantly as they ran riot in the Airmen defence to run through many more tires at will. Subsequently, the second half turned out be a one horse race for winners as they went on a rampage to win by a massive margin.
For Havies Dinupa Seneviratne, Musheen Faleel, Abdullah Fayis and Azmir Fajudeen were pick of the players while Gayantha Iddamalgoda who was a lone warrior for losers. They eventually bagged a bonus point by scoring over four tries in this game.
On the other hand, even though they showed some initial aggression during the first half of play, Airmen failed to maintain the momentum in front the nippy three quarter line ably supported by the rival forwards in the set pieces. Airmen will have to be much more organised as a team and should be disciplined in their performance if they are surge into winning ways.
CR ambush Army
At Panagoda, the defending Clifford Cup Champions and last year league runner up CR & FC was too good for Army. They ambushed the soldiers by 55 points 8 after leading 36-3 at lemons. It was a scintillating team effort by the Red jersey men who completely hoodwinked their rivals in all departments.Skipper Suhiru Anthony leading from the front mesmerised the rival camp depriving the soldiers crossing their defence line.
The much expected Army under the watchful eyes of their new coach Shamly Nawaz were hapless in containing their rivals. They never looked comfortable amidst the CR firepower which never allowed them to settle and gain much important momentum through out the game. CR used their three quaters to run riot while hunting to find inroads in their rivals defence.
They were quite successful in their endeavour as they planted several tries to seal a comfortable win and became the second team to earn a bonus point by planting more than four tries. Lasindu Karunathilake, Chemod Mudunayake, Adeesha Weerathunge and Thenuka Nanayakkara making the scoring for the winners while Thenuka displayed some exceptional kicking skills while being
instrumental in scoring few of the tries. Army on the other hand had very little to offer under home conditions. It was a herculean task for them to restict their rivals. Nevertheless, they will have to strive hard to rectify their mistakes if they are to become a major force in this tournamnent. They have to believe in them while playing to their potential executing plans curtail ing the rival scoring spree evaluating the strength and the weakness of them.
Police cops Navy
Police playing hosts pulled off a 41-22 win over Navy after being 24- 8 points by the short whistle. Even though the cops won by a comfortable margin at the end, the winners were given a torrid time in the second half before they earned a comfortable victory. Police with a heathy set of forwards dominated the rucks and the mauls. They drove through the rival defense to score many tries later using the three quarter line who were equally into the task of scoring with some thriving moves. Hirantha Perera (2), Lahiru Thilakarathne and Matheesha
Perera (2) made the finishing touches while Prince Chamara did the kicking duties for the Cops. The cops have made a fine progress with the influence of their head coach Nilfer Ibrahim who is making some valiant efforts to bring back the past glory of the Police team.
The fresher laden Navy team which lost several players from the last season squad who migrated to other clubs were nit upto the mark. They made basic elementary mistakes even much needed ball handling. They too have to have to be disciplined in their skills and should do their home work well before they embark on to the game.
Kandy edge our CH
Defending league champions Kandy had to fight tooth and nail before they earned a 22-13 win at Nittawela last Sunday. After leading 17-3 at the turn around, CH bounced back to hold the host
scoring spree and to lose by points. Overall both teams displayed a poor standard of rugby which ended as a error-full game which CH making the most with ball handling skills.
The second row forward Thilina Bandara planted two tries while scrum half Heshan Jensen and Nigel Ratwatte putting finishing touches in the second half while making converting tries while putting over the two penalties For CH fly half Hirusha Sampath played a key role in their game converting the solitary try scored by skipper Avantha Lee and putting over two penalties.
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