A sailor takes a big hit by an Airman. - Pic by Sanka Vidanagama

Air Force edged out the much fancied Navy team in a hard fought affair by 6 (Two penalties) points to 5 (Unconverted try) in their encounter at the Inter Service Rugby Football Tournament 2009 held at the Army Grounds, yesterday.

It was a scrappy game of rugby with the inclement weather not being of any help and both sides found it hard to hold on to the ball. In a game where possession was at a premium, the ball was given away far too easily by both teams with poor ball handling and aimless kicking.

Air Force showed more purpose in the first half and were rewarded for their effort when they were awarded a penalty within kicking range early in the game as the Navy forwards were penalized for using their hands in a ruck situation. Suranga Arunashantha made no mistake with the kick for Air Force to lead 3-0 at this point.

Navy had a chance to come back in to the game when they were awarded a penalty soon after but there first choice place kicker A.N. Hettiarachchi fluffed the kick. Air Force capitalized on a mistake by the Navy forwards again when they were caught offside at the breakdown and Arunashantha again slotted in easy kick in front of the posts for Airforce to add 3 more points to their score.

But navy came back strongly on the stroke of half time to put together what could be called the best move of the game. They broke on the blind off a scrum and showed good hands with some neat short passes for their nippy little scrumhalf W.W.S. Pushpakumara to score a sublime try at the corner flag. Dev Anandh missed the conversion and Air Force were in the lead by the narrowest of margins 6 – 5 going in to lemons.

The second half was a totally different story to the first. It was a case of continuous missed chances for Navy where they kept missing attempt after attempt at goal and lots of aimless kicking and poor ball handling by both sides once again. The Air Force started losing their line-outs and the Navy had ample opportunity to capitalize on this but failed to do so. Two penalties were missed, one each buy Anandh and Hettiarachchi and some vain drop goals were also attempted but failed to find their mark and the second half finished scoreless. The match finished with Air Force edging out the sailors by one point.