Cops tame Airmen
Police centre Akash Madushanka lands a try - Pic by Akila Jayawardena
Police SC secured their third victory by defeating Air Force SC 34-22 in the concluding match of the first round of the SLR Nippon Paint Club Rugby League at Police Park yesterday. Despite losing the lead to their opponents in the first quarter, the Cops took the lead and ended the first half with a 14-10 advantage, while maintaining their lead throughout the rest of the game.
They scored from a total of five tries, three conversions and a penalty, while earning a bonus point, making them the top favourites to win the Plate title, when the second round begins in the coming days. The Airmen had their moments of glory, but were totally outsmarted by their opponents, despite scoring from a tally of three tries, two conversions and a penalty.
Veteran Gayantha Iddamalgoda, who mans the Air Force flyhalf position gave his team an early lead by putting over a crucial penalty, bolstering their approach after the successful attempt came in the third minute. The Airmen were past paced, yet Police were far superior, despite losing easy chances which prevented their efforts from being transformed into points.
A try scored by prop Deshan Fernando, off a rolling maul in the 15th minute, set the tone to Police’s forward march, as flyhalf Shaveen Jayawardena, who missed an equalizer penalty in the fourth minute, got his rhythm intact to convert the try. After the Cops came ahead by 10-3, the game turned over in favour of the home side.
But at a point the Airmen were on a constant attack, until No.8 made an uncanny interception to cover almost an entire field to touch down in the 25th minute. With Jayawardena’s conversion they were 14-3.
Despite facing resistance and being pushed back, the Air Force team managed to exert pressure on the Police side. Eventually, their persistent efforts bore fruit with a try resulting from a forward move.
Skipper and hooker Gayantha Iddamalgoda took the honour of touching down for Air Force just two minutes before halftime, as they cut down the deficit to 14-10 before the change of ends.
The game changed drastically soon after the resumption, as Police made a surprising offence, which left Air Force with less options. Eventually the Cops were rewarded with two back-to-back tries, the first off winger Matheesha Perera in the 48th minute, and the other by centre Akash Madushanka, which came three minutes later. Jayawardena was able to put over the first out of the two, as Police were well ahead by 26-10 by the 52nd minute.
But trouble followed soon, when Police flanker Sameera Jayasinghe was shown a yellow card, which gave Air Force an opening to attack their opponent’s territory. This culminated with Air Force skipper rolling over to brace his and the team’s second try of the game in the 57th minute, and with Iddamalgoda’s perfect conversion, the scores read as 26-17. Soon after Jayasinghe completed his 10 minutes in the sin bin, Police lost another important man in centre Hirantha Perera, who was shown a yellow card in the 63rd minute. Unlike earlier, the Cops left no room for the Airmen to play around, and were rewarded with a penalty in the 69th minute, which fullback Prince Chamara easily converted to have them further expand the lead to 29-17.
In the 67th minute, both sides became even after Air Force centre Pramod Padmasiri was given a yellow card for a high tackle. Yet they managed to push through the Police defence and have prop Hasindu Premasiri score an unconverted try in the 75th minute. During the remainder of the game, the Airmen looked worn out, which resulted in flanker Sameera Jayasinghe going over for an unconverted try in the 79th minute of the game, which ended 34-22 in favour of the Cops.