It took almost eight games and the place was Welisara yesterday when the giant killers of the Inter club season Navy edged out the high riding Kandy SC by 29 Points (3 Tries, 1 Conversion, 4 Penalties) to 25 Points (4 tries, 1 Conversion, 1 Penalty).
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| Navy centre Dinusha Chathuranga beats Kandy flyhalf Fazil Marija on his way to touch down. (Pic by Sanka Vidanagama) |
At the breather it were the Sailors who led at 18-8.
The battle was between the Kandy three quarters and Navy forwards. From the kick off Navy SC played to a set plan. More they made sure their play maker and fly half Dev Anand had a superb outing. He was spot on his decisions either to work or kick ahead. Due to this Kandy was under severe pressure. Besides for Navy bothers Namal and Yoshitha Rajapaksa were outstanding in attack and defence. They were ably supported by No. 8 Bilal Hassen who stood out in loose play.
In patches Kandy played well making some good moves led by their pack leader -- burly Sajith Saranga. He was unstoppable but lacked the much needed support from his team mates.
Navy drew first blood as early as the second minute when the Kandy line was spotted off side. Dev Anand was on target with a penalty kick at goal. Kandy did the same error six minutes later and once more Dev Anand was on target with another penalty kick. Kandy No .8 and play maker Saranga made a superb move and touched down to cut the deficit to one point. Soon after Kandy SC scrum half Roshan Weeraratne missed a simple penalty at broke their morale somewhat.
Five minutes later Navy SC centre Dinusha Chathuranga brushed aside a few Kandy defenders to touch down. Dev added the extra points. Roshan Weeraratne cut the deficit through a 30 meter penalty. On stroke of halftime Navy full back Dulip Methruwan touched down to take “Lemons” at 18-8.
After the turn around Navy scored through Namal Rajapaksa and Dev Anand put over a penalty. For Kandy tries were scored by Gayan Weeraratne, Mohamed Jabbar and Sanjeewa Jayasinghe.
But in the end Kandy ran out of time loosing to Navy for the third consecutive time at Welisara.
Referee Nizam Jamaldeen
Assistant Referees Dinka Peiries and Charitha Kodagoda
Kandy will lock horns with CR & FC at Nittawela next week-end. |
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