Clinical Navy make it a double
View(s):The Club Rugby season ended with the Clifford Cup final making it a fitting finale. Navy won a double by winning the knockout championship last week.
For the first forty minutes of the game rugby did not reach a standard fitting for a cup final. Havelocks were in front at half time leading by19 points to 3. The game was scrappy and pregnant with mistakes but took a different turn as Navy had other plans in the second half.
It looked like Havelocks had taken a comfortable 19 to 3 lead. In the second half Navy started off kicking a penalty right and then dominated the game scoring three tries which were converted to make the difference. In the second half Navy added 24 points to their halftime score of 3 while Havelock’s managed to add a paltry, 3 points to their first half score of 19.
The Sailors celebrating their second title for the year - Pic by Amila Gamage
Cohesive play with the substitute foreigners making advances from the centre bemused the Havelocks back division. Bilal Hassan contributed to the misery of the Park Club after his entry as a substitute. He made the bad ball in the scrums look good. With the Navy pack being pushed they were in the receiving end of bad ball which affected them. However Bilal who shifted to No.8 started making use of the bad ball and attacked from the base and got over the gain line.
This helped them go forward and distribute making a difference in the latter stages of the second half. This left most spectators asking, ‘what happened to Havelock’s’. Nuwan Hettiarachchi, the highest point scorer this season was on target in the second half having missed a couple early in the game. The kicking boots did make a difference. Games are never won on the first half alone and you cannot afford to snooze was the lesson of the day.
The two penalty-tries and three yellow cards are something Sri Lankan Rugby needs to look as we approach and prepare for the Asian5Nations. That is an indication of what and how the ARFU referees will blow. Repeated infringements as well as collapses as you are pushed closer to the scoring zone will be punished appropriately at this level of the game.
The onslaught of Navy on Havelocks was good to ensure victory. It was good that almost all in the team was involved and rallied round to keep the continuity of attack as foreign players took the game forward and build a base to carry out attacks on the Havelocks goal line. The locals always obliged by moving forward. It is now two championship trophies of local rugby that has found their way to Welisara, the home of Navy rugby.
The Club season is over and in coming weeks the heat will be turned on by the schools league games which are expected to commence around the March 19 or 20. The games in each segment will be divided to two groups. The top division will have two groups of six teams each. Each team will play five matches in the group and the first four teams of each group will play the second round. This will consist of eight teams which will have to play the teams that they did not play in the first round. Therefore there will be another four matches and the league champs will be decided on the best out of the eight.
Will this be better than the system that was in place in the past is what most seems to ask? Certainly it looks good on the first look as teams of equal strength are grouped and the best will then proceed to the next round. The proof of the pudding being in eating the actual will be seen soon. The first week will see arch rival Royal meeting Isipathana which will see crowds and a lot of emotion on display. This game is expected to be played on a Sunday. The schools section hopes to have a stunning season this year and overall 92 teams are expected to take part in the different segments.
Read the blog sites and you will see the emotion that is being built. Feeling plays a big part in schools rugby and can be identified with the comments as everybody wants to be the best in rugby this season. Some may succeed and some may fall but none will go down without a fight.
What is important most is to ensure that the game will not suffer and there will be fun for all. Keep the spirit of rugby alive. These are school boy teams and as such there should not be any chance to say ‘has mercy on me, and blot out my offence, wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sins’.
Vimal Perera is a former Rugby Referee, coach and Accredited Referees Evaluator IRB