Kandy ground Air Force
By Shamseer JaleelView(s):
Kandy players put up a clinical performance to outclass Airmen at Ratmlana yesterday. - Pic by Ranjith Perera.
Defending League and Knockout champions Kandy Sports Club came back to super form of running rugby when they outclassed Air Force Sports Club by 54 points (8 Tries, 4 Conversions, 2 Penalties) to 3 points (1 Drop Goal) at Ratmalana yesterday.
At the short breather it was Kandy who led 25 to nothing.
Kandy after an unsettled start in the first 15 minutes re-grouped and played cohesive rugby with intentions of defending status in the league competition. They ran circles around the Airmen. Kandy justified the fact that they are a fitting outfit after their not-so impressive wins in the previous encounters and hit the peak at the correct time threatening others in the title fray. Their fly half Fazil Marija was omnipresent and he was a delight to watch either in attack or in the defence. He split the Air Force defence on a number of occasions with ghosting moves. Fullback and skipper Saliya Kumara too had a crunching day on the field day with ever reliable Roshan Weeraratne keeping the Air Force defence on check many times.
On the other side Airmen lacked the finish and coordination especially between their three quarters and forwards. Being the only team playing without the services of foreign players Air Force seems to be missing the traffic while they are also need to brsh up their basics. Air Force which was one of the top four teams last season, are yet to register their first win this season.
Kandy SC drew first blood in the 16th minute of the game through a Roshan Weeraratne penalty. Four minutes later he added his second for the day. Ten minutes later Weeraratne dummied his way to score the first try of the game. He made no mistake in adding the extra couple of points to take a clear 13-0 lead. Kandy SC centre Oshan Perera touched down next. On the stroke of half time skipper Saliya Kumara scored under the posts for Weeratane to add the extra 2 points to take ‘Lemons’ at 25-0.
After the turnaround it was one-way traffic with Kandy scoring five more tries. They were scored through forwards Latu, Loiohea, Mohamed Jabbar, Asitha Ratnayake and Etuati. Two of them were converted by Weeraratne. The solitary drop goal for Air Force chipped in by Iddamalgoda. Kandy will have two home games at Nittawela against CR & FC and Havies. Their last League game will be against Navy at Welisara. Yesterday’s game was controlled by Gamini Indrasena.
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