Kandy get another chance for tryouts against Air Force today
View(s):The Airmen will not endeavour to do anything earth-shaking when they face mighty Kandy SC today at Nittawela. Their ambitions will be for more modest. A win for the champions will be a given, yet the Air Force will be striving to cut down the margin and, if possible, to get a score of their own.
Pradeep Kurukulasuriya is having his third stab at captaincy, having led the Airmen in 2007 and again last year. An experienced flanker, he will do well to get input from other seniors such as Dinesh Weeraratne, Charith Seneviratne and Suranga Arunashantha. These three led the Air Force in 2009, 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Kingswood College players seem to have made Katunayake their second home. Ranuka Medagedara (prop) and Ranil Medagedara (lock), who are twins, hail from the Kandy School. Full back Nuwan Perera is another.
Former Lumbini captain Jero Dhananjaya, will man one wing and Ishara Madushan, the other. National player Charith Seneviratne together with Soorya Krishan will be the centres. Pabasara Hewage, who played for Isipathana in 2014, will also be in contention.
The Airmen pride themselves on the fact that they have a good back division. That is no surprise considering that their coach Leonard de Zylva was a Sevens specialist. Air Force sources explain away the 8-36 defeat at the hands of the Navy, saying that the conditions underfoot did not suit their style of play.
Even though Kandy beat the CH and FC by a margin of 77 points, it wasn’t a performance that befitted a champions’ side. Probably, the cobwebs hadn’t been dusted off and the absence of testing opposition may have contributed to a feeling of over-confidence. However, the home team will have to brush up on their passing. There were quite a few dropped passes and even a stray pass or two.
The main area of concern for Kandy was the goal-kicking. Nine unconverted tries mean that 18 points were tossed away. Roshan Weeraratne, who was not at his best last season, too, failed dismally. The other kickers tried out Nigel Ratwatte and Arshad Jamaldeen were not that much better. Nalaka Weerakkody’s kicking skills don’t seem to have rubbed off on them.
Fazil Marija made a token appearance. Anuruddha Wilwara was not included as he is carrying a slight injury. Richard Dharmapala was also rested. Lavanga Perera and Gayan Weeraratne did some probing runs. Srinath Sooriyabandara gave glimpses of his undoubted skills after coming on late.
This match affords another opportunity to Kandy to expose their bench-players. The next game against the Police will be Kandy’s toughest so far. Thus it is inoperative that Kandy gets their combinations right by then.