What should have been a routine engagement between the champion Kandy SC side and a resurgent Havelocks SC has been given certain piquancy by the circumstances surrounding it.
Six points due to Kandy SC have been held in abeyance and, as a result, the host club has to win this game and put the issue beyond all doubt. What will set the cat among the pigeons though is an upset win for the Havies and, at the same time, a victory for the Navy over the CR&FC. It could be a case of confusion, worse confounded. Thus at the end of today’s game, there will be no coronation of the monarch.
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| The two Tongan players have been the
playmakers for Havelocks this season |
Kandy SC, playing minus their stalwart Sanjeeva Jayasinghe, put the previous week’s horrors (a loss to the Navy) behind them as they thumped the Longdon Place Club by over 25 points. The margin of victory was intensely satisfying and the brilliance of play-maker Fazil Marija, who scored three touch downs, was captivating. The fact that they crossed the CR goal-line on six occasions is testimony to the scoring potential of their back division which is a virtual Sri Lanka unit.
After a few lean and disappointing years, the Havies have stormed back into the reckoning with some very gallant performances. So much so, that they find themselves in with a chance of landing the ‘plum’. The inclusion of two good Tongan players in Angsta Sal and Paula Talaka is certainly a factor in their meteoric rise this season.
One must also not lose sight of the ‘Kandyan’ factor. Former Kandy SC players Amjad Buksh, the linkman, center Chamara Vithanage and flanker Dilip Chelvam have served their new club well. In addition Anuruddha Wilwara learnt a lot of his rugby in Kandy and also turned out for the champion team at the tail-end of last season. Buksh and Wilwara, in particular, have featured impressively in all the Havelocks matches. To put it mildly, the reception accorded to these Kandyans will not be enthusiastic.
To a certain extent, the SLRFU’s move in allowing the bottom four clubs to have two foreign players at a time has worked against Kandy SC. Where earlier Kandy SC won by margins of 40 and over for victory was kept down to manageable levels. Yet the leveling off process is not a bad thing in itself.
Brace yourself, then, for a stormy show-down. A big, noise crowd and two good teams going at each other with a lot to play for. What more can you ask for – except, perhaps, for a rifle shot or two! |
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