Clinical Kandy bounce back to thwart CH
What could have been a tremendous shocker was completely thwarted by their own brilliance and experience as defending champions Kandy Sports Club bounced back to secure a 32-24 win against the marauding CH&FC in a Cup segment game of the SLR Nippon Paint Club Rugby League at Racecourse ground in Colombo yesterday.
The visitors were given a torrid time by the hosts, CH&FC, who initiated pressure and earned as many points through their canny moves, which resulted in them leading 18-12 by halftime. Yet tactical moves by the Kandy SC players returned the favour on their opponents, as they completely outplayed CH in the second half and ended the game with a tally of four tries, three conversions and two penalties, while earning vital bonus points.
CH, who were threatening and pushed Kandy beyond their comfort zone, ended with a tally of two tries, a conversion and four penalties, with the bulk coming off the boots of fullback Hirisha Nethmina. It was Nethmina’s 10 minute absence from the 53rd minute, when Kandy overturned CH’s stronghold of the game and regained the total control, collecting as many as 20 points.
However, the game started off evenly poised when Kandy chose to barge through the CH territory in the fifth minute, forming a rolling maul to have flanker Jason Dissanayake brace the game’s first try. But CH&FC responded identically, with forward Nirosh Perera landing an unconverted try and bringing the game to a stalemate of 5-5 by the tenth minute.
Despite being forced to defend, Kandy managed to turn their efforts into points in the 13th minute, when a neat backline work handed flanker Wajid Fawmy the opportunity to score a try. With centre Tarinda Ratwatte’s conversion, Kandy regained the lead 12-5.
CH continued with their onslaught, causing Kandy to panic and concede the opportunity to breach their own territory, resulting in No.8 Janith Laksara responding in similar fashion in the 19th minute. With Nethmina’s conversion, the score were leveled again at 12-all.
It was from there that CH accelerated their approach causing Kandy players to panic and commit errors unlike during their recent outings. Nethmina had the opportunity to add four penalties, two each during the last phase of the first half and first phase of the second half.
At halftime, CH led 18-12. By the 52nd minute, they expanded their lead to 24-12. However, an unexpected turn came when Srinath Sooriyabandara, after moving from fullback to scrum half, made a remarkable run, evading multiple CH players to score a try. Shortly after, Nethmina handed Sooriyabandara a dangerous tackle, which caused him to sit outside for 10 minutes following a yellow card. With Ratwatte’s conversion Kandy closed in the gap to 19-24, and with a one-man advantage the visitors flummoxed CH with another canny move that gave Ratwatte the opportunity to score under the past in the 58th minute. Having his own try converted, Ratwatte helped Kandy to regain the lead 26-24 and went on to add two more penalties during the run up towards the long whistle as the defending champions raked in a clinical 32-24 win in the end.