The Sailors were so close but yet so far. That was the story last evening at the Royal Sports Complex. The event was the Centenary Caltex Clifford Cup Final between Navy SC and Kandy SC. In the end Kandy Sports Club edged out the Navy SC by 17 Points (2 Tries, 2 Conversion, 1 Penalty) to 16 Points (1 Try, 1 Conversion and 3 Penalties).
At the short breather it was 17-3 in Kandy’s favour.
The game was played at hectic pace with forwards from both sides being in the thick of things. In the initial half Kandy SC played to their true potential. They worked their powerful three quarter line at every given opportunity. For Kandy SC their stand off Fazil Marija was outstanding. He was omnipresent in every one of their moves. He decided either to work or kick ahead with pin point accuracy. He got ample support from his centers Gayan Weeraratne and full back Tharindu Chanaka. The young schoolboy from St Anthony’s played well under terrific pressure.
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| Kandy SC’s No 8 Sajith Saranga is tackled by Navy’s flanker and skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa. – Pic by Mangala Weerasekera. |
On the other hand for the Sailors it was their pack leader Bilal Hassen who was outstanding. He got ample support from hard working forwards Sathya Runathunge and Dhanushka Perera who were in the midst of the battle.
Kandy Sports Club drew first blood through Scrum Half Roshan Weeraratne’s penalty in the 11th minute of the game. Minutes later Dev Anand attempted a Drop Goal kick 45 meters away which was astray Five minutes later Navy from their own half worked it through Hooker Namal Rajapaksa who almost covered 45 meters and was brought down inches from the try line. In the 20th minute Dev Aanand was on target with a Penalty kick to equal scores at 3 a piece. Kandy kept on working their line with Winger Mohamed Jabbar slicing through Navy defense to score. Roshan Weeraratne added the extra 2 points.
On stroke of half time Eranda Weerakody’s clearance kick was smothered by Fazil Marija who touched under the posts. Roshan Weeraratne added the 2 extra points to take “Lemons” at 17-3 favouring the Hill Country Club.
Navy came back strongly in the second half scoring 13 points through 2 penalties taken by Dev Aanand and a push over try by burly Prop Sathya Runathange.
Referee Nizam Jamaldeen
Assistant referees –Irshad Cader and Dinka Peiries
With this victory Kandy has won the Clifford Cup on 17 occasions. Their first win was in 1992 against Police SC. |
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