Navy sink Airmen
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Thwarting a possible danger that could upset their plans in the run-up to the title, Navy SC overcame Air Force SC by 29-21 in a tough second round match of the Dialog Division ‘A’ Inter-Club Rugby League Championship at Welisara yesterday.
Coming out with three vital changes in their own backyard, the Sailors had the upper hand prior to the game after Air Force were compelled to make five changes in their starting lineup. That probably made the early profit for the winners as they finished off with a tally of four tries, three conversions and a penalty, after leading the halftime by 17-8.
Airmen made the most in the second half but ran short by yards from reaching the victory, ending up with a tally of two tries, a conversion and three penalties. They gave an early alarm when Gayantha Iddamalgoda put Air Force in front with an unconverted try within five minutes from the start. The kickers of both teams had bad starts as Airman Rumesh Ramadas failed to make the conversion and from the Navy Thilina Weerasinghe failed to put through a 30-metre penalty, which came four minutes after the Air Force try.
But he was not so nervous when converting a try three minutes later, which came off fly half Chanaka Chandimal off a well raised maul. The pattern of scoring, try-scorer and place-kicker were virtually a carbon copy in Navy’s second try which came in the 16th minute of the game and lead 17-5. Ramadas missed his second kicking attempt as Air Force failed to put his team back on track but his third effort was paid off as Navy led the halftime 17-8.
Three minutes after the resumption, Ramadas gave the striving Airmen a lifeline with a neat kick to cut down the deficit by 17-11. They kept Navy at bay for the next 13 minutes, before Kosala Tissera finished off with a spectacular try under-the-post, which also involved three-quarters Chandimal and Dinusha Chathuranga. Wijesinghe converted to put Navy ahead by 24-11.
Try-scorer Tissera had to sit in the sin-bin soon after his try and after a three-minute struggle Air Force managed to force the Soldiers to commit a mistake, which ended up with a penalty to the visitors. Ramadas kicked neatly as Air Force trailed 14-24. Navy’s hero Chandimal was part of another revenue for Navy as he took the ball right to the edge and give Dulanjana Wijesinghe to do the finishing touch. With a failed kick Navy led 29-14. All attempts made by Air Force were cut down neatly by the Sailors but one, in which they scored and converted three minutes before the long whistle, as the scores remained 29-21 in favour of the Sailors.