Bandara hat-trick dumps the Red Shirt resolve
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The Soldiers had all reasons to rejoice after overcoming CR at Longdon Place - Pic by Amila Gamage
Flyhalf Ashan Bandara made a hat-trick as he guided Army Sports Club to their second win this season when they ran down CR and FC by 24-10 in their Dialog Rugby League Championship match played at Longdon Place yesterday.
CR or the Red Shirts, who suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of CH and FC last week, were eager to regain their winning ways, but the Soldiers had a clinical outing overall to completely outsmart their opponents in their own backyard for the second time within a year.
Bandara’s hat-trick ensured Army put bonus points on the board as the winners took a moral boosting 12-5 lead at halftime. The Soldiers completed their win with four tries and two conversions out of which Bandara accounted for 15 points and Army’s placekicker Gayan Salinda adding four points via two conversions.
The Red Shirts had a few opportunities coming their way, but they were only successful twice in breaching their opponent’s defence. They scored from two unconverted tries which came in either halves.
CR never had the outing easy, with a heavy Army attack and a heavy downpour which started off soon after the kickoff. They were dearly tested for the first 30 minutes by the Soldiers, who occupied CR’s 22 during almost the entire duration. But first blood was drawn by the hosts who got their act together for once, when their back division clicked well to hand over the ball to centre Sashan Mohamed to touch down far left. Stand in skipper Tarinda Ratwatte’s failure in the conversion, prompted him to hand over the kicking duties to fullback Shanaka Kumara, who was equally unsuccessful.
Army had a possible opening to draw first blood earlier on through prop Sugath Nanayakkara, who ran a good distance through to a three-quarter move, but his knack did not go waste in the 36th minute with a mirror image repeater that to of the CR and FC. With that opening and a failed conversion, Army equalised 5-5 and accelerated further in their attack. Their efforts were paid off when Bandara crossed the line under-the-post just before the halftime with a successful conversion from Salinda.
A minute after the resumption Bandara gave a fitting finish to a clean line-work of the Army backs, as he ran across halfway the field to touch down under-the-posts for Salinda to make an easy conversion. Army was leading 19-5 until CR retaliated in the 59th minute with a carbon copy of their first try, but at this occasion the scorer was centre Reeza Reffaideen. With the try going unconverted CR trailed 10-19 and pushed further to cut down the deficit, where they failed. With Army taking the game with more comfort, forced the Red Shirts to commit more errors, creating an opening in the 72nd minute to score their fourth try, which was Bandara’s hat-trick. The Soldiers kept their nerves intact to keep CR at bay and dominate the remaining eight minutes to pull out a deserving win.