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Ruthless Kandy stomp hapless Old Zahirians
Kandy 65 Old Zahirians 7
By Shamseer Jaleel
This year's rugby season is still in its infancy. Crowds are still getting accustomed to the evening stroll to their favourite venue. So the gathering yesterday at Longdon Place was small. But, this didn't deter the local rugby kings -- Kandy from stomping hapless Old Zahirians by 65 points (5 goals, 6 tries) to 7 points ( a goal) in their Premier League season opener.

It was evident that the Kandy team still had not worn their magic spurs. At the initial stages in fact the Kandy attack looked rusty and took time to settle down. On the other hand the Old Zahirians too played well beyond expectation and gave the visitors to Colombo some food for thought. However the Kandy dominance prevailed and at the breather the visitors led by 38 points to 7.

In the first half Kandy crossed the Zahira line on six occasions through skipper Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Pradeep Liyanage, Dilip Selvam, Amjad Buksh, Chamara Vithanage and Sajith Mallikarachchi. Nalaka Weerakkody converted three of those tries while Buksh was on target with one.

For the Old Zahirians centre M. Kuncheer found a crack in the Kandy defence to post their solitary try in the first half and added the extra points to it himself.

In the second essay Kandy came back to their own. But, the Old Zahirian defence also rose to the occasion and held the Kandy attack at bay for a solid twenty five minutes. However once the deadlock was broken the flood gates were also opened.

In the remainig fifteen minutes the Kandy machine ran into plant five more tries through skipper Sanjeewa Jayasinghe (2), Nalaka Weerakkody Pradeep Liyanage and Nilufer Ibrahim. Winger Chamara Withanage goaled one of these tries.

Referee: Aruna Jayasekera
Today Air Force will host CH and FC at Ratmalana while Army will scrum down with the Police at Galle Face.

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