Defending Caltex League Champions Kandy SC managed to pull off a 14 points (two goals) to 6 (one penalty and one drop goal) victory over a fighting Air Force team in their ‘A’ Division clash played at Ratmalana yesterday.
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| An Air Force player runs into a ruck dominated by Kandy players at Ratmalana. Kandy managed a 14-6 win. |
All the scoring was done in the first half.
The champions dominated the set pieces, rucks and mauls and loose play, but were sent back time and again by some gutsy defending by the hosts. Air Force will be ruing the three missed opportunities they had with shots at goal.
Had they converted obviously they would have written their own script of the match. Kandy who featured a virtual Sri Lankan XV when at full strength, may have been guilty of complacency and also looked quite a bit ring rusty in this their first match away from home. Passing without looking, spilling the ball at crucial moments and infringing when in the opposition ‘22’ ensured that the match remained close.
The visitors completely dominated the first half but took nearly all of 20 minutes to the break down the defense of their opponents. Winning the ball against the head, Kandy worked their line to ensure that centre Chamara Vithanage touched down under the posts to give full back Radhika Hettiarachchi the easiest of conversions.
Air Force stand off Chanaka Chandimal missed a 50 metre penalty soon after.
Then in arguably the move of the game Kandy counter attacked from their own ‘10’ metre line for replacement stand off Mohommad Sheriff to touch down on the left hand side of the posts to give Hettiarachchi another easy conversion attempt with which he duly obliged.
Air Force hit back with a penalty and drop goal by Chandimal who was guilty of kicking too much with the ball in hand. Kandy for their part was sorely missing the skills of regular stand off Fazil Marija.
The Air Force backs looked good but lacked penetration.
Referee: Gamini Indratissa
Havelocks win
In another ‘A’ Division Caltex League match, Havelocks beat CH and FC by 20 points (one goal, two tries and one penalty) to 5 (one try) in their match played at Havelock Park. The victors led by 17 points to nil at the breather.
Referee: Irshad Cader. |
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