Unbeaten League champs Kandy clinch Nippon Paint Trophy
The unbeaten Kandy Sports Club were officially presented with the Nippon Paint Trophy for winning the 2022 Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) organised Inter-Club ‘A’ Division League Rugby Tournament, during a gala awards ceremony held at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo.
Kandy SC went through another successful season as they won all eight matches and collected a total of 45 points, which included five bonus points as well. In addition, Kandy SC ran down as many as 36 tries from their eight matches and converted 26 of them for an aggregate total of 253 points.
Kandy SC also had the honour of winning the Best Player Award of the tournament with dynamic centre three quarter/fly half Tharinda Ratwatte emerging as their most outstanding player with a contribution of 106 points inclusive of six tries, 25 conversions and seven penalties.
The nearest to challenge was Sandesh Jayawickrema of Havelock SC (50 points) and his teammate Buddhima Piyarathne (40 points), who in fact was the highest try scorer of the tournament having crossed the whitewash on seven occasions.
Kandy SC’s nearest rivals during the 2022 Inter-Club League Tournament was Havelock Sports Club, who finished as the runners-up with a total of 40 points, which included five bonus points.
The Havies recorded seven wins and lost just a solitary game from their eight outings and scored 34 tries for an aggregate of 230 points. Meanwhile, CH and FC finished in third place, well behind the top two teams of the tournament having recorded just four wins from their eight matches. They were followed by Air Force SC, Navy SC, Police SC, CR and FC and Army SC.
The Kandy SC Rugby Squad: Nigel Ratwatte (Captain), Charles Praveen, Lasitha Attanagoda, Mohamed Ali, Malitha Rashmiks, M. Chandradas, Pathum Weerasinghe, Ananda Raj, Damith Dissanayake, S. Dilshan, Kavishka Bandara, Heshan Kalhara, Thilina Bandara, Chathura Soysa, Ruwan Amarasinghe, Mathisha Amarasinghe, D. Dharmapala, Tharindu Chathuranga, Sanushka Abeywickrema, B. Udangamuwa, Tharaka de Silva, Tharinda Kapuwatte, Roshan Weeraratne, Srinath Sooriyabandara, Heshan Jansen, Asiri Seneviratne, T. P. L. S. Ranaweera, Tharinda Ratwatte, Oshan Perera, Lawanga Perera, Chamika Perera, Dhanush Dayan, Dinal Ekanayake, Buddhima Piyarathne, Kavindu Perera, Dilshan Dange, Nimesh Prematilake.