Kandy arrest Cops in their own backyard
Kandy Sports Club kept its hopes of claiming the Dialog Division ‘A’ League Championship intact after recording a clinical 37-3 win against Police Sports Club in a second round match played at Longden Place yesterday.
Kandy centre Oscar Omar evades Police Fijians on his way to touch down - Pic by Anuradha Bandara
Kandy SC won the game with bonus points after scoring five tries, three conversions and two penalties. They led the halftime at 15-0 after a lop-sided start but managed to keep their territory clean despite conceding three points off a penalty to the hosts.
The visitors could not get their game plan implemented during the first ten minutes as the Cops burst into action by invading the Kandy territory twice. But Kandy managed to win the ball on both occasions despite lacking the perfect finishing touches. Flanker Chris Cloete made inevitable moves to strike first blood in favour of Kandy but they had to wait for 16 minutes to have the scoreboard moving.
After continuous attacks Cloete managed to make a quick offload to fly-half Fazil Marija who in turn swiftly sent the ball into the hands of lock Sashrika Jayawardene to touch down on the right flank. Scrumhalf Roshan Weeraratne, who experienced an unusually lousy start by knocking-off clean passes more than five occasions, failed with the conversion.
Kandy’s playmaker Cloete was next to touch down ten minutes later after Marija made a similar offload on the left flank. Weeraratne was spot on with his kick to put Kandy further in front by 12-0. Five minutes prior to the halftime Police prop Randhira Silva was sin-binned for foul play but Kandy could only add further three points through a penalty off the boots of Weeraratne to put his team in front by 15-0 at the end of first half.
Upon resumption the Cops regrouped by unleashing an unexpected attack on Kandy, who had to fight bravely to keep their territory safe. But after losing centre Prasad Devinda, who was yellow-carded by referee D. Nimal for a high tackle on try-scorer Jayawardene, the host’s attack gradually fainted. Finally their vigorous assail was restricted to 14 minutes until replacement centre Lavanga Perera intercepted a pass to run half-length of the field to touch down under the posts. Marija made the conversion to push Kandy forward by 22-0. After a failed penalty on offer soon after resumption the Cops finally managed to put three points on board when centre Samantha Lakshan made a clean kick with a second and final penalty on offer. By this period Kandy had peaked their performance and were on the go. Kenyan centre Oscar Omar, who played a key role in Kandy’s win, was next to touch down two minutes later with an unconverted try. For the next eight minutes both teams had a close tussle but Kandy held the upper hand as Weeraratne came back to action by putting through a penalty. A minute later Marija created a scoring opportunity that was never in place by kicking a dummy to make centre Oshan Perera touchdown. Weeraratne made the conversion as Kandy finished the game by 37-3 after a failed penalty kick in the final minute by fullback Arshad Jamaldeen.
“The boys were not up to it in the first ten to 15 minutes but afterwards they peaked and struck to the game plan. We are happy with the overall performance but I thought we were unlucky for not being offered with a penalty try when Sashrika (Jayawardene) was forced out of action off a high tackle. Otherwise things were in order,” stated Kandy SC manager Kapila Silva.
Police SC assistant coach Lalith Leelaratne was discontented with the performance of the team but was confident they could bounce back in their next game against Navy in two weeks time.
“The performance was clearly below par. We made a lot of errors in all areas; especially the ball-handling was not up to standard. We will have a week’s off to put the house in order before our next outing. Hoping to come back with a neat performance against Navy,” he stated. Kandy will travel next weekend to Colombo to take on CR&FC.