Navy maintain unbeaten record by a whisker
Navy recorded their sixth successive win in the Dialog Division ‘A’ Club Rugby tournament while maintaining their unbeaten tag by a whisker, with a close 31-27 win over CR&FC played at Longden Place yesterday.
The Sailors after conceding a 12-17 lead to the Red Shirts struck back in the second half and accumulated their points through three goals and two tries as against to the two goals, two tries and a penalty scored by CR.
A Navy player on the rampage - Pic by Amila Gamage
The Red Shirts scored first in the third minute through an unconverted try by centre Hashan Maduranga. However the Sailors kept up their onslaught and succeeded eight minutes later and leveled the score with a try by winger Dinusha Fernando as Nuwan Hettiarachchi fluffed the conversion. Minutes later Navy surged ahead through a try by their foreign star Jone Avakia, as Nuwan made no mistake with the conversion putting Navy ahead 12-5.
The Red Shirts breached their opponents’ defence as in Dushantha Lewke went over for an unconverted try to reduce the deficit 10-12 and continued to put the Sailors under pressure. This helped them take over the lead minutes away from the short whistle through a try by centre Hasthika Bandaranayake as Rimzi Jamaldeen added the extra points.
On resumption the Sailors played to a different game plan and leveled the score off a 40-meter run by Nuwan Hettiarachchi who intercepted a pass midway. Navy’s Fijian centre Kata Talu helped them take the lead with a try which was converted by Hettiarachchi. A close tussle ensured the Red Shirts succeed in reducing the lead through a Jamaldeen penalty but Navy led 24-20.
Winger Dinusha went over for his second try of the game and Hettiarachchi’s conversion helped the Sailors increase the lead to 31-20. Winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe’s try and the conversion by Jamaldeen saw CR nearing the Sailors target, but time ran out for the hosts who fell short by points.
Hambantota Sharks record first win
Hambantota Sharks at last saw the winning post when they recorded their first win defeating the lowly placed CH and FC by 47 points to 20 in the Dialog A Rugby League encounter played at Beliatte.
The Sharks having taken a commanding 33-8 lead at the breather made up their points through six goals and a try while CH too looking forward for their first win got their points through a goal, two tries and a penalty.