Police reaches 36 to CH’s 20 points, of which 17 points come in from Apisaia’s sole performance
The slight drizzle which started at the point of the kick off continued through the game, yet the battle was not less furious in any sense. Police was keeping up the phase with the slipperiness and CH’s attack in reply was equally strong. From the kick off CH was on to the ball, but the line wasn’t strong enough with missed passes early on. As a result the first try of the game was an easy achievement for Police. Lahiru Gunasinghe dashed through grabbing a missed pass by No. 2 Ishan of CH scoring the first 5 points for Police. The added conversion by Apisaia Naqalrvec allowed police to reach 7 – 0 in the first 7 minutes of the game.
Next, Police Apisaia Naqalrvec was smart enough to grab the opportunity to score the second try of the game. Score was at 14 – 0.
CH was hungry to get off the score but wasn’t the right time for them yet. With the next kick almost closing the try line and Number 32 of Police not delivering a timely kick the ball was dropped in favor of CH. Onto a scrum next to the try line at number 14 Nadeen Mohammed from CH took over the ball. Again at number 23, Apisaia came took over the ball and was at a long run towards the opposing try line. This time he was successfully tackled by number 11 of CH. Without losing the advantage of moving forward, Josaia Tokuaa grabbing the ball scored the third try of the game while CH still wasn’t off the score. Police reached a score of 21.
Finally the game started turning towards CH in the last 12 minutes of the first half. Number 26, Ratv of CH was moving for a very optimistic try, but the Police was defensive to back him up. Malindha Bandara stopped Ratv but his effort was warned with a penalty to CH. Ishan taking on the penalty for CH scored the first three points for CH in the game, reaching 21 – 3.
With the additional pressure towards the last minutes of the first half, the Police seemed tensed in handling the ball. With 8 minutes to the half time Malindha Bandara who was advised before was sent back with a yellow card. CH comfortably pushed towards try line though they weren’t able to make use of the penalty awarded with the yellow card. Pola from CH at number 29 jumped onto the try line scoring the first try for CH in the game. With its conversion CH reached 10 as the game was about to break for the half time.
Half Time 21 – 10
By the half time it had already rained for almost half an hour or more. Players hardly had a grip on the ball. The half time kick off by Police was a direct push towards Lochana Darshana of CH. Yet the wet ball slipped off into the grounds allowing Police to grab it the next instance. The slipperiness didn’t do much of a favor to Police either. A scrum was called from which CH took the advantage to win the ball. Soon afterwards at number 1 Perera from CH kicked the ball which rang up high and landed on the spot. The struggle was of similar pattern but CH managed to move the ball forward.
A much highlighted part of play was as CH was closing up to the try line at number 23, Apisaia Naqalrvec for Police saw a loop hole in the line was quick to take advantage to break through the line and move forward. Apisaia made across the grounds swiftly with no tackles up to 75 meters with thundering crowd support. Yet as he was reaching a try line a turn towards the center made him lose the ball. Gathering at the point the CH players were quick to grab the ball and the whole effort was failure.
Taking on from a scrum at this point onwards CH wasn’t off to a good start with a very shot kick by Bawantha Pereara at Number 1. Yet Dhanauka Wijethilaka came to save CH dashing through the defenses making it to the try line scoring the first try in the second half. With the conversion this brought up the score to a 17 – 21.
CH was coming back to attack with long range kicks. To the Police disadvantage Amaradhasa Jeewan missed the ball closer to the try line awarding CH a line out. At the pressure point Police’s reaction didn’t come in handy. Rasith Silva, was given a yellow card while CH was promoted to a penalty from the line out. Making maximum use, CH was able to close up with Police at 20 -21 with the added 3 points.
The comeback to the gained points was from Apisaia of Police at number 23. He once again ran 75 meters with two tackles from no. 11 of CH but successfully managed dodge him both the times crossing into the try line. The try remained unconverted yet pushing the Police score to a 26 to CH 20.
With the notion that the game was slipping away from them CH kept changing playing combinations. Number 18 was substituted in before the next kick off. It was the 33rd minute of the game and Police number 12, took a kick from the point as usual number 23 getting his hands on the ball was taking on another long driven try. The only tackle this time for him was Pola at 29 but mighty Apisaia ran all the way for the try line. The try remained unconverted and that made Police reach a score of 31 – 20.
With the final 10 minutes left, CH tried to recover the massive lead. Pushing the ball forward and playing without mistakes. Yet, a scrum was ordered and Police took the opportunity to score one last try. With a kick just about 25 meters to the try line at No. 14 Weerasekara grabbed the ball off a missed pass off CH number 2 and scored the last try pushing the final score to a 36 – 20 in favor of Police.
Full Time 36 -20
