When the going gets tough, the tough get going
Kandy SC was expected to be at the top of the heap come the end of round one and that’s exactly how things panned out. This was no surprise at all to the chairman of the Kandy SC Rugby Committee, former National Player, Lasantha Wijesuriya.
At the moment there’s no real challenge for Kandy SC, who remain unbeaten in seven games
Says Wijesuriya: “as champions, we were organised and ready. We had done a lot of hard work in the off season. As for the vital second round”, he says.
“We will be fixing our game plan from match to match. Some of the players who adorned the bench at the start of the first round games, will be given a go straightaway.”
What Wijesuriya did not say was that because of the rich array of talent at their disposal, replacing one player with another will not weaken the team appreciably.
Take the case of Roshan Weeraratne who is not entrusted with the conversions now. That task was handed to Arshad Jamaldeen. In the final game against the Navy, Nigel Ratwatte took over that role and achieved stunning success.
Having a clean state after seven games, all of which they won, Kandy SC are obviously front runners and, the team to beat.
However, Kandy did have three tough games against the CR, Havies and Navy. CR lost by six points, Havies by ten, the Navy by a wider margin of 19.
The CR and the Havies will take on Kandy at Nittawela and beating the champions in those environs has proved difficult for most teams.
The Navy will play Kandy in their back-water and that match (a probable decider) will be a good test of the champion’s mettle.
One final point, while on the subject of Kandy. In almost every game, it was their opponents who scored first. However those teams could not maintain the pressure. Kandy proved the veracity of that hackneyed cliché – when the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Nilfer Ibrahim, the coach of the Navy team, now not satisfied with how his players performed in the Kandy game. “We were OK in the first 60 minutes.
We were good in attack. We lost a lot of lines outs – the penalties killed our chances. The forwards, save for Gunaratne, Rajapaksa and Saranga, did not play as well as we expected.”
The Havies, Kandy’s closest challengers, probably felt the absence of crock centre Dhanushka Ranjan in the Kandy game. Ranjan versus Marija: Greek meeting Greek, would certainly have provided a wholesome dish for the rugby connoisseur.
Sandun Herath, the skipper, did not do his talents justice in the first round. His team, which finished second in the league table, five points adrift of Kandy, must be waiting for another crack at Marija and company. But that will be at the grave yard for Colombo teams – Nittawela.
The CR who gave Kandy their toughest game, lost it in a moment of sheer madness. On top of that, their agonizing 20-21 loss to the Navy, put an end to their hopes of a third place finish.
The Army and the Police occupy slots five and six, having won three games each. But, on balance, and not taking anything away from the new kid on the block (Rafaideen), that was a game the Army should have won.
Instead they ended up losing 45-47. Their tackling has to be improved and, probably, the players are not on the ball the whole time.
The Police axed three players for their last game and turned up trumps. They are upbeat that the introduction of youth has worked well. They are a bit upbeat about their chances in the second round.
In Mohamed Sheriff (fullback), Sudham Parinda, Reeza Rafaideen (wingers), Chula Susantha and Mushin Faleel (centres) they possess players of skill and talent.
The halves combination of Rehan Weerakoon and Mohamed Absal served them well.
With the return of Sharo Fernando (from suspension) and of Bilal Hassan (from injury) there is a new found enthusiasm. Bilal in particular, scored many tries notably off five yard scrums.
