Kandy hammer Police for bonus point win
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Kandy’s Dansha Dayan is held by a Police player
Defending champions Kandy Sports Club turned on the style playing their first game away from home this season scoring five tries to two for an emphatic 34-13 win against Police Sports Club in an explosive Dialog Club Rugby League Championship first round clash at Police Park yesterday. Kandy converted three tries and also a penalty while Police got their points from two unconverted tries and a penalty.
Kandy enjoyed a 17-3 cushion at the interval but it was not all one-way traffic in a fiercely contested first half.
Police enjoyed abundant possession and attacked the Kandy goal line for long spells in the first half but failed to break the water-tight Kandy defence, forcing handling errors with the line in sight.
Kandy SC forwards propped Lasitha Attanayake for their opening try with Tharinda Ratwatte making a superb conversion to give them a 7-0 lead after just four minutes.
Police replied with a 14th minute penalty from Yohan Peiris after Kandy were penalised for collapsing the scrum. The ‘Blue Shirts’ showed enterprise opting to run the ball at every opportunity with winger Janith Chanaka making inroads on the left flank.
Kandy increased their lead to 10-3 at the end of the first quarter with a penalty by centre Ratwatte who had an outstanding game in both attack and defence, slotting in as fly half when skipper Nigel Ratwatte was left on the bench in the second half.
Co-centre Lavanga Perera powered across and rolled over the line after he was tackled for Kandy’s second try in the 26th minute with Ratwatte adding the extra points to give them a 17-3 advantage.
Kandy’s defence was sorely tested when they were down to 13 men after Buddhima Piyaratne and Srinath Sooriyabandara were sent to the sin bin in quick succession before half time. But despite their defence being stretched, Kandy even managed to launch counter attacks with Police failing to convert the numbers advantage.
Police finally managed to break the stout Kandy defence six minutes after the turn around when prop Lahiru Pavithra crashed over from a driving maul following a line-out for an unconverted try.
Kandy forwards were dominant over the Police defence
Kandy SC stepped up the tempo thereafter starving Police of good ball by phasing out moves with clinical precision spreading the ball wide. Sri Lanka Sevens captain Danush Dayan playing as fullback, launched attacks from the deep while No.8 Buwaneka Udangamuwa stood out like a three quarter while the forwards hurtled themselves like human missiles.
Such was Kandy’s dominance that they secured the bonus point before the final quarter began through a brace of tries by right winger Diluksha Dange. Ratwatte and Dayan showed good hands to send Dange over for a corner flag try in the 52nd minute. Ten minutes later the ball switched hands from left to right after Kandy stole a line-out ball for Dange to dive over for his second try. Ratwatte kicked astray both conversions.
Tempers flared as Kandy’s Chamika Perera was shown the yellow card for a mid air tackle when a Police player kicked the ball to touch. Referee Isuru Perera added to the confusion by frequently consulting his assistants on critical decisions.
With just over ten minutes remaining, Police scored a consolation try when full back Suranga Kasun chipped ahead and won the race to the touch down.
Kandy signed off with a classic winger’s try as left winger Buddhima Piyarathna sliced across to dive over the line in the 72nd minute after a galloping run from Dayan to launch the move. Ratwatte added the icing to their fifth try with a superb touchline conversion.
Kandy also had a try disallowed in injury time with the referee claiming it was knocked forward when the winger dived over in the corner.