With the first round of the Dialog Rugby League coming to a close Havelocks Sports Club finished off with a flourish downing the mighty Kandyans at Havelock Park.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, but the delicacy was not on Kandy Sports Club’s menu this evening as Havelock Sports Club bought their “A” game to the park closing the game strongly in the second half to take the big “W”.
The hill capital club was first on the board with a Roshan Weerarathna penalty and took an early lead, 3 nothing. The home side replied with a super try, Mithun Hapugoda doing the good work picking a quick tap and passing on to Chamara Dhabare to finish off. William Hakalo slotted a brilliant conversion from the corner, 7-3 Havies. The visitors struck back soon to take the lead. Sloppy work by the Havelock line saw the ball being turned around and worked long for Anurudda Wilwara to go over the line. Weerarathna having no issues with the conversion took the score board to 10-7 Kandy leading. Havelocks had the chance to wipe out the deficit but Hakalo missed the 3fer on offer.
The home side then dished out some mouthwatering forward play with brilliant phases competently keeping possession, the opposition defense though held. The ball finally saw light as it popped out of a ruck and Niroshan Fernando with a beauty of long pass out wide gave Sandun Herath the opportunity to score. The try went unconverted; nevertheless Havies took back the lead 12-10.The scores went undisturbed to the half, with Hakaloa missing another penalty in the process.
Half time was an animated one with coaching staff of both sides blowing steam at the players and trying to get their message through. It was definitely promising to be an enthralling second half, at that is exactly what it was.
Kandy struck gold early on in the second half with Gayan Weerarathna displaying good speed and tactics to go under the post. The other Weerarathna completing the formalities gave the visitors the lead once more with the score reading 17-12. Kandy saw yellow cards for indiscipline one after another. Keith Gurusinghe being the first to be sent off and almost as soon as he returned Dinesh Sanjeewa was sent off to the dreaded chair. The absence of the forwards clearly showed during the second half as the powerful Havelock forwards exerted awesome pressure on their opponents.
Towards the last quarter Havelocks recycled both foreign players William Hakaloa and Paula Kaho with Joe Brown and Tongan Hale T. Pole. Pole was seen on the bench busily taking notes and marshaling the bench and took the advisory role on the field, which was probably a distinct factor towards the strategy adopted by the home side in the last quarter.
Hale T. Pole then got his first try on Sri Lankan soil. A brilliant rolling ‘Havelocks” maul with Pole as the ball carrier scoring bought the scores into deadlock at 17 all with Joe Brown missing the conversion. The Havelock forwards were on song putting pressure on the Kandyan’s on their line, and all that was needed was a pass out which saw Niroshan Fernando going over. Mohamed Sheriff took over the kicking duties and made no mistake, 24-17 Havelocks in front.
The home side would have known the single score lead was not going to be adequate to hold the upcountry opposition as they are known for their coolheaded-ness and comebacks. The last nail in the Kandy coffin came in the form of perennial try machine Sandun Herath. In what looked like a planned maneuver with an ‘8 break’ and a scrum half punt, Herath chased down the ball superbly and foxed Fili Fa’atanu in the last line of defense to score under the post. Sheriff putting the conversion over pushed the lead further as the long whistle of referee Mark Johnson went off.
It was a brilliant game of rugby, and Havelock Park was packed to the brim with probably the highest turnover in the field for the season. The level of rugby was at a peak and a fitting finale to a hotly contested Dialog Club rugby first round. The second round of games will no doubt be a fascinating affair to say the least.
