In Welisara what turned out to be a lacklustre match, Havelocks Sports Club beat Navy  Sports Club by 22 points (2 goals, 1 try and 1 penalty) to 13 (1 goal, 2 penalties) after leading by 12 (1 goal and 1 try) points to 10 (1 goal and 1 penalty) at half time. With no [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Havelocks crowned League champions

By Vimal Perera
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Havelocks forward Ashen Karthelis progresses despite being challenged by Navy players. - Pic by Ranjith Perera.

In Welisara what turned out to be a lacklustre match, Havelocks Sports Club beat Navy  Sports Club by 22 points (2 goals, 1 try and 1 penalty) to 13 (1 goal, 2 penalties) after leading by 12 (1 goal and 1 try) points to 10 (1 goal and 1 penalty) at half time. With no bearing on the league winners the match did not reach a crescendo though played among two of the top teams. Nevertheless Havelocks remained unbeaten in the second round and clinched the Dialog Division A league rugby title for the year 2012 in style after 31 long years.

Three minutes after the first whistle Havelock’s worked the ball off a ruck in the Navy 22 which ended in Lee Keegal scoring a try which was not converted for the Park Club to take the lead at 5-0. Fly half Dev Anand missed a penalty for Navy in the 10th minute which was followed by Havelock’s keeping the ball with the forwards. An erratic pass by Havelock’s in the Navy 22 was picked up and Ratu Tanielli who made good ground to score under the post for Anand to convert and the Navy took the lead by 7-5. In the 30th minute Havelock’s were successful in keeping the ball which went for eight phases and  the ball was distributed off the last ruck for Willie Hakala to score and the conversion  was successful and  Havelock’s took the lead to 12-7. Anand who was unsuccessful with a drop kick attempt made amendments in the minutes before the halftime call with a penalty to reduce the deficit by 12-10 which still was under Havelocks’ favour.

Four minutes after resumption Havelock’s dropped the ball having crossed the line. Two minutes later Navy were spotted entering from the side to a ruck and Hakalo made no mistake with the conversion which took the score for Havelock’s to lead 15-10. In the 50th minute an attempted jinx by Hakalo saw missed tackles and a gap to allow a soft try which he scored and converted all by himself for Havelocks to lead by 22-10.

In the 62nd minute Havies flanker Sudarshana Muthuthanthri received a yellow card for punching on a report made by the Assistant Referee which brought down the Havies manpower to 14. With that disadvantage the Havies conceded a penalty for the tackler not releasing and Anand was successful with a 24-meter kick which took Navy’s tally to 13 points. Navy made a few forays into the Havelock’s territory but were unsuccessful in making a change to the score line which stood at 22-13. Havelock’s were crowned the Dialog League champs in a simple ceremony at the end of the match.

Referee Nizam Jamaldeen
Air Force too strong for CR&FC
In a Plate championship encounter Air Force Sports Club beat CR&FC by 23-13 at Ratmalana. Air Force SC which is the only club sans foreign players this season played a gallant game to score an equally deserving win on their home turf. The Airmen scored from three tries, a conversion and two penalties. CR&FC who led the halftime by 10-6 managed to scored from two unconverted tries and a penalty.




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