Kandy SC ran in ten unanswered tries as they annihilated Police SC 62-06 in their opening game of the New Year at the Police Park Grounds.
Frank Halaifonua, Fazil Marija, Roshan Weerarathna and Anurudad Wilwara were the stars of the show as they ran circles around the disorganized Police defense line. Halaifonua starting at center was instrumental in making numerous line breaks giving Kandy the upper hand and Police had no answer for his brute strength and pace throughout the evening.
Police were behind Kandy even before the kickoff having lost the reliable Arshad Jamaldeen due to injury, while Kandy had the full services of Fazil Marija who started from his customary position of outside half.
Both teams looked edgy from the kick off, taking time to settle down and in the process making a few handling errors. The first opportunity of the match came to Police after Kandy were penalized for hands in the ruck. Naqalevu Apisaia put over the 30 meter penalty to give the home team a 03-00 lead.
From their onwards it was the visitors show with Roshan Weerarathna and Fazil Marija pulling the strings to a wonderful tune and playing some classic running rugby. Kandy scored their opening try through fresher Thilina Wijesinghe after a bustling run by Halaifonua. Wijesinghe converted his own try.
Shortly afterwards Halaifonua made another clean break from a side step and off loaded it to Marija who touched down near the right corner flag. Kick was no good and the scores read 12-03 to Kandy.
In the 26th minute Anurudad Wilwara exhibited the pace he was known for when he played for S.Thomas’ running in a 30 meter try after a couple of good passes by Marija and Andrew Porter. Police flanker Thusara Chammika was sin binned for indiscipline.
Throughout the whole game Kandy opted to run the ball from their half and in one such instance taking advantage of the extra man, captain Roshan Weerarathna scored the fourth try taking the score to 22-03. Minutes later after some consultaion with the touch judge Referee showed the yellow card to Roshan Weerarathna for an infringement which happened off the ball.
On the stroke off half time Halaifonua showing his strength and pace made a clean break and ran in 35 meters leaving 4-5 defenders in his wake but was brought down 5 meters from the try line. Eventually Gayan Weerarathna went over the try line and Wijesinghe added the extra points and sent Kandy into half time with a handsome 29-03 lead.
Kandy known for their running game was exhibiting what they can do in full flow. But after the match Neil Foote speaking to ThePapare, “Well the running game is a great style of play but we have to lay the foundations and earn the right to play wide. We don’t want to operate like a sevens outfit, need to get some control upfront because we have a good forward pack and today was one of the better games by them.”
Police started the second half brightly but indiscipline cost them a try scoring opportunity early on. Kandy made a couple of changes at half time with Fa’atanu Fili taking over as outside half with Marija moving to inside center. Fili kicked the ball for Wilwara to chase, who gathered it but couldn’t off load properly to Marija, otherwise it would have been a certain try for the visitors.
Kishor Jehan’s replacement Heshan Silva made an immediate impact when he went over the try line for Kandy’s 6th try in the 49th minute after good work done by Fili. Kick was good. 36-03
Police managed a drop goal minutes later but couldn’t stop Kandy from scoring two successive tries through Lavanga Perera and Fazil Marija. The latter was initiated by Marija himself from their half, passing wide to Wilwara, then after some nifty work done by Lavanga and Oshan ball was given to Marija to score under the posts. Scores read 50-06.
The only highlight of Police’s game was when Naqalevu Apisai gathered a wayward pass running 75 meters going through 5-6 Kandy defenders but was felled agonizingly close to the try line. If he had scored the try it would have been one of the tries of the tournament.
In the closing stages rubbing salt into the wounds of the Police players Uchitha Jayasuriya and Richard Dharmapala scored tries and ended the match with a comfortable 62-06 win.
Kandy coach Neil Foote speaking about the match, “There was some sketchy periods but the forwards laid the foundations for the backs to play and no tries against us which is good. Good start to the year; we are taking one game at a time and have UpCountry next week. It will be a tough test. Also we have some school leavers who are showing their worth”
