Hell gates open in 20 days
Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) will stick with the initiative it took last year, to complete the upcoming Dialog Rugby League 2019/2020 with the Super Round, as the club rugby season is set to kick off from November 29. The curtain raiser match will be between Navy Sports Club, one of the bottom-half teams and last season’s League runners-up Havelocks Sports Club at Welisara.
Like the in the last season, SLR will allow the four bottom-half teams — Navy SC, Air Force SC, Army SC and Police SC — the advantage of fielding foreign players, to make the League more competitive, against the more powerful top-half teams CH&FC, CR&FC, Havelocks and title holders Kandy Sports Club.
At the end of last season, Kandy SC topped the League table after gruesome 16 matches, but with three losses to their tally, before emerging champions for the fifth time in a trot. The decisive game against Havelocks on March 3 too was a cliffhanger, which Kandy SC won by a two-point margin with the final score reading at 21-19.
Unlike the previous seasons, the Hill Capital club failed to enjoy a smooth sail towards the title. They were first thumped by Army SC on January 12 by a whisker, with the match ending 23-22 in the second round in favour of the Soldiers, who were comprehensively beaten by Kandy SC 38-10 in the first round. A star-studded, but yet-to-combine CH&FC team was beaten by Kandy SC 38-22 in the first round, but it was a total contrast in the return leg, when the Maitland Crescent side stunned the Kandy side with a 33-17 win on February 2.
All bets were on a Havelocks title reign last season, after the Park Club handed Kandy SC their third defeat of the season on February 16, with the game ending by 28-26 after a thrilling battle. This was after Kandy had comprehensively beaten Havies by 31-21 three months before in a first round match at Nittawela. Kandy experienced some close shaves before their regained momentum in the Super Round to win both games and win their 19th League title.
For the upcoming season, Kandy SC has lost the services of a key player, Arshad Jamaldeen, who played a pivotal role as a standoff and flyback replacing the legendary Fazil Marija and Thilina Wijesinghe respectively, during important games. But they have found an ideal replacement in Tarinda Ratwatte, who crosses over from CR&FC after three seasons. Ratwatte, the captain of the Trinity College 2014 outfit, went on to represent Sri Lanka at Junior and Sevens circuits, and will be a key player for his hometown club this season.
Ratwatte’s inclusion in the Kandy unit will bolster the plans of the newly-appointed coach Fazil Marija, who will have a third option in place kicking besides potential skipper Nigel Ratwatte and the ace Thilina Wijesinghe.
After representing Kandy SC and Sri Lanka for 15 years former flyhalf Marija, played second fiddle to Coach Sean Wijesinghe last season and this season he has been bestowed with the responsibility of taking the reign of the coaching unit. Marija also served as the Sri Lanka Junior ‘backs’ coach, is a current member of the Sri Lanka XVs coaching unit.
Havelocks SC, almost laid the hands on the Dialog League title last year, but eventually had to settle down as runners-up. But the Park Club went on to claim the coveted Clifford Cup Knockout Championship after 38 years, with a bunch of fresh legs and some scintillating performances by some of their key senior players.
They too finished with 13 wins from 16 games as Kandy SC, but the difference between the two sides was a mere two bonus points. Kandy finished with 80 points against Havies’ 78 points after 16 games. Their only plight was losing to Kandy twice in three outings with outcomes of 31-21 in the first round and 21-19 in the title decider. But the Park Club would definitely like to forget their unimpressive 33-40 loss against CH&FC on February 10 in their 13th league game.
Other than that Havies have combined well to prove what unity can bring, winning almost all of the remaining games with ease, despite a mixed side. The side will be coached by the experienced Sanath Martis this season too. Martis will have a tough task in grouping a side of experience and youth, with a few known names opting to change sides prior to this season. One of the key losses will be their fullback Riza Mubarak, who has been a vital cog in Havelocks wins.
In addition the list of exits include lock Sharo Fernando, winger Chamara Dabare, centre Dinuk Amarasinghe and a forward. But Havelocks has raked in a few school leavers, in addition to Naveen Henakankanamge. The Park Club is well known to nurture and transform school leavers into star players, and under the captaincy of scrumhalf Mithun Hapugoda, they will be eager to continue in their mission to lift the cup this season.
The surprise package of last season was CH&FC, who finished third in the table with some notable wins. From 16 games, they won 10 and lost six to accumulate 65 points in total at the end of the season. Among the wins in the first round are against Air Force (26-18) and Police (29-24) in the first round, but in the return round they improved as a unit to beat Navy (31-28), CR&FC (33-10), Air Force (29-22), Police (38-25), Kandy (33-17), Havelocks (40-33) and Army (24-22). They lost just four games out of 14 in the two rounds to secure a spot in the Cup Segment in the Super Round, but lost both matches followed.
This season CH can be named as the dark horse in the League with just one player leaving them and a lot more joining in. Among the new recruits are former Royal College team-mates Arshad Jamaldeen and Chamara Dabare and a few school leavers from St. Peter’s College.
Last season CH’s performances were bolstered mainly by fullback Samuel Maduwantha and a combination of players, who rose up to the situation to steer their side to crucial wins. The team will be led by utility player Rohitha Rajapaksa and will come under the watchful eyes of Nihal ‘Viper’ Gunaratne, who inspired the Soldiers to some exciting wins last season.
CR&FC or the Reds as they are known well, have failed to impress as a unit in the recent seasons despite fielding star-studded sides. Last season they finished fourth with 54 points in the table with eight wins, a draw and seven losses in 16 outings.
CR stepped into the ended season on November 10 with a close 24-23 win against traditional rivals CH, and beat Navy 28-22 the following week. Their third successive win of 38-17 against Police outlined a promising season to follow, until Kandy handed them the first defeat of 31-40 on December 2. The week following, Havelocks rallied to beat them 31-22, but the Reds regained momentum with a 37-27 win against Air Force, before the Soldiers rallied to hold them to a 24-all draw in the final match of the first week.
This was a disastrous sign for the Reds as they were outsmarted by the Cops by 21-18 in the first game of the second round. CH returned the favour by thumping CR 33-10 the following week, and another 31-24 defeat at the hands of the Havies made them a worried lot. But they rose up strongly against the Soldiers to thrash them by 53-33 the next week, and follow up with another 23-20 win against Navy a week later. They fought well before losing to Kandy 26-31 seven days later, but a 36-26 win against Air Force secured them a place in the Cup Segment in the Super Round, where they lost to Havelocks (14-21) and beat CH (38-33).
CR&FC may have had one of the professional structures in the local club rugby setting, but unlike their counterparts Kandy SC, the Reds have failed to impress their fans and followers with a deserved silverware. They have lost the services of Tarinda Ratwatte to Kandy SC, but the void will be not felt as a huge blow with the inclusion of star players Riza Mubarak, Sharo Fernando and Dinuk Amarasinghe, who joins the Reds from the Park Club.
Adding more excitement and hope to the unit will be the signing of Dushanth Lewke as CR’s Head Coach, while the coaching staff becomes a complete one with the inclusion of former Kandy SC and Sri Lanka prop Kishore Jehan and Mushtaq Jiffry, a former Sri Lanka and Reds winger.
At fifth position after last season sits Police SC, who leads the bottom-half of the table. The Cops have won six games, drew one and lost nine to accumulate 44 points, similar as Army SC. But they have more tries scored as against the Soldiers, which put Police ahead of Army in the final standings.
Their wins against Air Force (28-19), Army (41-19) from the first round, CR (21-18) and Navy (26-17) in the second round, and Navy (34-25) and Army (50-27) in the Super Round helped the Cops secure the Plate title. Their draw of 24-all came against the Soldiers after a fierce battle during the latter part of the second round.
For the Cops, the secret formula of their performances is the unity of players, led by Jayanga Silva and senior campaigner Romesh Acharige. The side had contributions coming from young and aspiring players namely Wajid Fawmy, Sandesh Jayawickrama, Zaid Sinhawansa, and a fleet of others. Shamly Nawaz will continue to inspire the unit as the coach.
Army SC sits behind the Cops with six wins, two draws and eight defeats in 16 games. The Soldiers performed a few giant-killing performances to create major upsets during the league tournament, which widely opened the competition during the latter stages. Their win against Air Force (29-21) and the suppression of much fancied CH (24-18) were the highlights before the end of the first round with a 24-all draw against CR.
Kandy SC won its fifth successive League title last season
The Soldiers failed to kick off the second round with a bang, as they added their fifth win of the season after eight games. But in the ninth week, the Soldiers performed the wonder, edging Kandy SC by 23-22 at Nittawela, to create the biggest upset of the competition. They carried forward the form gained with a close 27-25 win against Navy, before conceding to CR by 33-53. The Soldiers beat Air Force 27-15 a week later, before recording their second draw of 24-all draw against the Cops, and end the second round with a close 22-24 loss against CH.
In the Plate Segment of the Super Round, Army beat Air Force 29-25 before falling prey to Police by 27-50 in the title decider.
The Soldiers are yet to name a leader to their pack, but last season it was a total team effort that gave them unexpected outcomes. As the skipper Thusitha Senanayake had the distinctive support of top campaigners Asoka Jayalal, Imanka Ariyapala, Sudaraka Dikkumbura, Gayan Salinda and Sachin Dilshan. Former Kandy SC and Sri Lanka winger Radhika Hettiarachchi will coach the Soldiers this season, to carry forward the inspiration injected by last year’s coach Nihal ‘Viper’ Gunaratne.
Surprisingly, unlike how they fared in the recent seasons, Navy SC, finished seventh in the list with 40 points in the table, and with five wins and 11 losses in 16 games. They were not the usual winning set of Sailors the local rugby fraternity has seen over the recent times, but the kick off of for them was quite welcoming. A close 24-23 win against Police in the opening game, and two losses to follow against CR (22-28) and Havies (18-22), before their second win of the first round against Air Force (43-25). This was followed with another inspiring win against Army (24-14) before ending the first round with two successive losses against CH (26-34) and Kandy (20-22).
They managed only one win in the second round against Air Force (18-17) while losing the remaining six, before suffering losses against Police (25-34) and Air Force (21-41) in the Super Round Plate Segment to wind up at seventh. Despite some well-known names in the club rugby circuit such as Mushin Faleel, Richie Dharmapala, Mohamed Afzal, Rehan Thiyagarajah, Dinusha Chathuranga and many others, Mothilal Jayathilake’s side failed to produce what they are really capable of last season. But this season, the Sailors will be willing to face the challenges and regain their lost status.
Starting off from the bottom of the table this season is Air Force SC, who has a tally of a solitary win and 15 losses with 12 points from last season. The Airmen failed to win a single match from the first and second rounds, but the plus point of the team is that they have managed to score points and cause each opponent much pressure than any other side. Their lowest points scored during the first round is 16 while in other games the Airmen have managed to surpass 20 points.
In the second round they were only curtailed to six points by the Havies while in the remaining six games they managed to hit past 15 points.
Their first game of the Super Round Plate Segment was a close one, before being defeated by the strong Army unit by 29-25. But the Airmen regained power, grit and momentum in their final game against Navy to thrash them by 41-21 and record their solitary win of the league season.
The side has a fleet of former schoolboy superstars such as Ashok Vijayakumar, Jehan Seelagama and many others playing alongside seasoned campaigners Gayantha Iddamalgoda, Radeesha Seneviratne, Charitha Seneviratne and Charles Praveen. But they have been not so lucky enough to pull off a deserving win, until late of the competition. The fired-up Airmen went on to reach the Clifford Cup Knockout final, before losing gracefully 40-21.
In another 20 days, a brand new Dialog Rugby League Championship will kick off with 16 weekends of exciting rugby on the cards. Sri Lanka’s top eight rugby clubs will weigh their might against each other beginning from November 29 to January 18, 2020, when the first round comes to an end. The same fixtures will be repeated in the second round at away venues, promising thrills, fills and surprises as the competition moves on.