This could be a chance to get into winning ways again
Defeats, even in crunch games, need not lead to negativity. They have their positives. Kandy SC finds themselves in a strange, rather unusual situation. Nittawela, with its teeming fans, was Kandy’s insurance against defeat, not any longer. A Navy outfit that, on the day, played a superior brand of rugby was able to perform the unthinkable and inflict on Kandy a defeat on home terrain after 11 long years.
Kandy SC suffered their first defeat at Nittawela after 11 years against Navy SC last week - File pic
The postmortems are out. The highly talented Fazil Marifa hardly even touched the ball. There is a feeling that shifting Marija to the fly half’s berth could improve performance in the back division. In the first place, why was the tried, tested, and proven, Sri Lankan stand-off shifted? Has Kandy missed the wood for the trees is a good question.Fili Satano was excellent in the earlier games. But, in truth, at least one of the three was a dawdle. Navy’s defence was fast, fit and on to the ball carriers in the twinkling of an eye. Fili could orchestrate performance from his centre berth and, moreover, for youngsters like the Pereras and Wilwara, that could be a good learning experience.
Now to the Weeraratnes, probably Gayan Weeraratne was rushed into the team too soon after injury. It may have been better had he been eased in after today’s game against the Hambantota Sharks. Scrumhalf Roshan Weeraratne was also not at his best.
The importance of place-kicking was made evident by the efforts of Nuwan Hettiarachchi in the second half. He missed a few early on but came good when it mattered. Being wise after the event is easy, but shouldn’t Kandy have taken that late penalty? Going for broke didn’t pay dividends.
Has Kandy blown their championship hopes? There are miles to go. Even though they played superb rugby on the day in question, Navy SC is not at their brilliant best all the time. The Havelocks await both teams and a fairer assessment could be made after the Havelock Park game. Navy could lose to the Havies and, if Kandy can beat the latter, what then?
Kandy SC has shown in the past that they are a highly motivated side after a defeat. They meet lowly opposition today (Hambantota Sharks) and this could be a good opportunity to get back to winning ways and they must win big.
The sharks have a smattering of ex-Navy players such as Dev Anand, Lakith Perera and Duminda Pulikuttiarachchi. They are bolstered by the presence of four Samoans, one of them, a former National skipper. One final point. The referee who officiated last Sunday was doing his third Kandy game on the trot. Considering the pressure, he didn’t do a bad job. But couldn’t the situation have been avoided?