What a game it was in front of a packed Havelock Park! It was a fantastic display of running rugby led by Havies number 8 Nissan and his team-mates. In the end Havies ran home with 50 Points (7 Tries, 6 Conversions, 1 Penalty) to 19 Points (3 Tries, 2 Conversions) win in their Dialog [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Kandy stunned as Havies; break 17-year-old hoodoo

By Shamseer Jaleel
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A Havelocks player is grabbed by a Kandy player with the Havelocks defence moving into support - Pic by Ranjith Perera

What a game it was in front of a packed Havelock Park! It was a fantastic display of running rugby led by Havies number 8 Nissan and his team-mates. In the end Havies ran home with 50 Points (7 Tries, 6 Conversions, 1 Penalty) to 19 Points (3 Tries, 2 Conversions) win in their Dialog Inter Club Cup segment rugby encounter yesterday.

At the short breather the winners lead 26-5.
Unlike other Colombo outings where Kandy took time to settle down, this time they did it in no time and played well within themselves in the initial 15 minutes. But Havies hit back strongly after Kandy scored early. They worked their line at every given time. Led by pack leader burly Nissan Aitul, the Havelocks had a super outing. He was lightning fast on the loose ball and when on attack split the Kandy defence into pieces. His moves were a constant occurring and Kandy did not have any answer for them. It took nearly 2-3 players to bring him down. Fly Half Niroshan Fernando too gained a lot of territorial advantage with some outstanding kicks to touch. Havies full Back Mohamed Sheriff joined the line when on attack but there was no major opportunity for him to run with the ball. Amongst the forwards it was Kavinda Jayasena and Terrrance Henry who stood out.

Kandy play maker Fazil Marija was a well marked and his opportunities were limited due to this. Sean Wijesinghe had some powerful runs but with little support from his team mates, the moves broke down. Both Achala Perera and Anura Walpola stood out in loose play.
Kandy drew first blood in the 6th minute through a try by skipper Saliya Kumara. Soon afterwards Havies fly half William Hakaloa missed an easy penalty 35 meters out. In the 28th minute of the game winger Mithun Hapugodage kicked and chased the ball to score under the posts. William Hakaloa converted to take a 7-5 lead for the Park Club. During the last 10 minutes of the initial half Havies scored three back to back tries through William Hakaloa,  Diran Warunakulasuriya and Nissan Aitul. Two of them were converted by Hakaloa to take “Lemons” at 26-5.

After the turnaround Havies scored through Niva Tauso, Nissan Aitul and Ashen Karthalies. For Kandy tries were scored by Hooker Achala Perera and Sean Wijesinghe. Havies also put over a penalty through Tauso. Referee Dilroy Fernando controlled the game very well without any incidents or yellow cards.




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