When winning becomes a habit

Kandy take sevens opener

By Harry Jayachandra

Kandy Sports Club have dominated the club rugby scene for nearly the past decade. Many say that winning is a habit and if that is the case, then other clubs will have to go in to turbo gear. In the very first tournament for clubs held this year, Kandy laid down the marker by clinching the Championship in what can best be described as a lop sided final. They trounced Army by 55 points (five goals and four tries) to 7 (one goal).

Sri Lanka and Kandy SC's stand off Fazil Marija led his side's try spree with three brilliant touch downs all under the posts. Right through the tournament he initiated the line breaks, showing that his form at last year's Asiad was no flash in the pan.The other try scorers included veteran winger Sanjeewa Jayasinghe (2), full back Radhika Hettiarachchi (1). Hettiarachchi incidently, is back playing for Kandy after a spell with arch rivals CR and FC.

Centre Gayan Weeraratne (1), No. 8 Dushan Lewke (1) and flanker Dilip Selvam (1) also scored. Fazil Marija and Radhika Hettiarachchi converted the tries. For Army Saliya Handapangoda scored and Kapila Knowlton added the extra points. This tournament organized by the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union was the first in a series of two with the second concluding in Colombo today and it will be interesting to see how well Kandy play away from home.

These tournaments will be used as the selection criteria to pick Sri Lanka's team for Hong Kong Sevens that will be played at the end of this month. If Kandy plays as they did in the first tournament, then it may well be seven players from the hill capital who don the national colours.

The writing was on the wall after the first day itself. Defending champions and favourites Kandy SC exceeded the fifty point mark in both their matches. However, arguably the highlight of the day was when unheralded Galle RFC crossed Kandy SC's following a short tap.

Kandy SC displayed their awesome bench in the preliminary round matches. Kusal Rankoth gave the selectors some food for thought with his skill and speed. Though outclassed in the final Army provided a semblance of an upset when they beat the CH&FC 19-14 in first round clash. The game breaking goal came a minute from full time.

Many expected that it would CR and FC who would challenge Kandy, but that was not be the case. Instead other than for Kandy SC, the teams to shine on the first day were Army and Havelocks.

Kandy SC thrashed CH and FC 33-0 in the Cup quarter finals and beat Havelocks SC 29-14 in the Cup Semi-finals. This win by 15 points was the narrowest for the all conquering Kandy SC thus showing the vast improvement the Park Club has made from last year.

And perhaps ironically it was Havelocks who eliminated CR and FC from Cup semi finals, with a thrilling 15 points to 12 victory in the Cup quarter finals. Ruhira Rathnage, Dulip Methruwan and Samatha Lakshan were the stand out players for Havelocks.. Gayan Weeraratne of Kandy Sports Club was adjudged the player of the tournament.

President of the SLRFU DIG Nimal Lewke was the chief guest and he distributed the awards. The winners Kandy SC were awarded the Dialog Trophy and cash prize of Rs. 100,000. The runners-up Sri Lanka Army received a trophy and cash Rs. 60,000.

Galle Rugby Football Club won the Bowl Championship by defeating Kurunegala Rugby Football Club 22-14 in the finals. In the semi-finals Galle RFC beat Petersons SC 22-5 and Kurunegala RFC beat Old Zahirians SC 24-21. Both CR and FC and CH and FC failed to produce quality rugby in this tournament and were relegated to the Plate semi final after losing to Havelocks and Kandy.

While CH and FC lost to Army in the first round (19-14) CR and FC drew with Police 19-19 also in the first round. The Red Shirts had national Sevens players Amjad Buksh and others but they failed to impress in this tournament. Mohammed Jabbar, a crossover from Kandy this year was the only player who played with some purpose for CR and FC who won the Plate championship after beating Police by 19 points to 15. Thus it remains to be seen whether the 'Red Shirts' can mount a comeback in Colombo.