CH and FC after leading 6-3 in the first half couldn’t hang on to it and eventually lost 31-13 to defending champs Kandy SC in a dialog super league qualifying rugby match played at Nittawela yesterday. Kandy’s points came off four goals and a penalty kick at goal to 13 (one goal, one drop goal and penalty kick) at goal).
CH and FC, who beat Kandy SC in the second leg game in Colombo, could not break the Nittawela hoodoo, while the hosts avenged their second round defeat with this grand win, after being down in the first half.
Kandy SC was backed up by a powerful display from their forwards and went on to present a good game of rugby in the second half. CH and FC dominated play in the first half and led at half time due to some superb play by the forwards.
It was Kandy’s courage and determination to defeat CH and FC that brought about this victory. Kandy was backed by their super thinking in the second half, especially the forwards who managed to get the better of their counterparts with their terrific loose play.
CH and FC three quarters gave their best in the first half and in the second half were starved of possession and on the few occasions they received good ball they were grounded with some fine tackling by Kandy’s back division.
After being contained in the first half Kandy turned on a dazzling display of open rugby in the last quarter of the game.
The most impassive of the Kandy three quarters were fly half Nigel Ratwatte, centers Oshan Perera and Dhanushka Ranjan who breached the CH and FC defence time and again with their sidestepping and speed, Winger Richard Dharmapala, the captain made some powerful runs down the flank while the other winger Lavanga Perera gave some bone crunching tackles. Fullback Thilina Wijesinghe as usual was in top form. Among the forwards Jayson Dissanayake, Sashika Jayawardene, Damith Dissanayake, Ashan Darling and Suhiru Anthony stood out with their terrific loose play.
CH and FC forwards and backs did well whenever they got the ball from their line outs and scrums, they had good talent, but could not glitter in the second half. There was no finish, as their opposite numbers were quick to tackle. From the start it was evident that CH and FC were determined to knock the daylights out of Kandy but they failed, due to the winners superb understanding.
Shortly before the kick-off, the newly elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket and big boss of CH and FC Shammi Silva was introduced to the two teams.
The scorers for Kandy SC were Nigel Ratwatte two, and one each from Anuradha Willwara and Thilina Wijesinghe. All goal kicking too was done off the boot of Thilina Wijesinghe.
For CH and FC all the scoring was done by Samuel Maduwantha. It was sad to note, the referee had to stop the game for a few minutes and call the match commissioner Kavinda Jayasena, due to an unwanted incident on the press box side.
Referee: Charlie Brown - AR 1- Rohan Fernando and AR 2 - Ishanka Abeykoon.
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