Havies overpower CH
After being choked in the first half, Havelocks made a brilliant comeback to record a clinical win against CH&FC by 31-17 in their SLR Nippon Paint Club Rugby League match, played at the Racecourse yesterday.
Being locked in at 7-all at halftime, the Havies managed to play brilliantly to complete with a tally of five tries and three conversions. CH&FC were tough at the beginning, but were prevented from dominating over by their opponents despite scoring from two converted tries and a drop goal.
The opening try of the game was recorded by CH hooker and skipper Prasath Madushanka in the fifth minute, as winger Hirusha Sampath added the extra points to take an early 7-0 lead. For almost 20 minutes, both teams failed to consolidate each other, until Havelocks hooker Azmeer Fajudeen used one of their trademark methods to touch down. With flyhalf Sandesh Jayawickrama’s conversion going well, they equalised 7-7, which was eventually the halftime score. CH lost flyhalf Mohamed Afzal during the latter phase of the first half and early stages of the second half, during which Havelocks made use to score off their forward Niwanka Prasad. With Jayawickrama’s conversion they expanded the lead to 14-7.
CH was reduced to 14 men for the second time, when Prasath Madushanka was sent off for a yellow card offence in the 48th minute, soon after when lock Shehan Dias touched down for a try that was converted by Jayawickrama, 21-7. They took the lead further to 26-7 after winger Randitha Warnapura landed a brilliant try, which went unconverted in the 54th minute.
Havelocks lost Nipul Atukorala for a yellow card offence in the 59th minute, giving CH an opening they have been longing for to dominate. No sooner flyhalf Rohitha Rajapaksa fired a drop goal, but Havies retaliated for the next 10 minutes to hold their opponents back.
Lock Yohan Fernando scored for CH in the 71st minute, and with Sampath putting over the try, they reduced the deficit to 17-26. But Havies retaliated again and flanker Maleesha Jayaratne scored brilliantly for an unconverted try that took his team’s lead to 31-17.