The Dialog Clifford Cup Knockouts kicked off today at the picturesque Racecourse Grounds. Defending League Champions Navy SC took on Air Force SC in a what seemed a tight battle early on in the game.
However, it was the sailors who managed to come out strong with a 55-03 thumping in order to secure safe passage to the semi-finals.
It was Nuwan Hettiarachchi who initially started the party with a 49m penalty early on in the game. He has been absolutely outstanding for Navy SC this season with the boot and went on to keep a 100% conversion rate today. However, soon after Charith Seneviratne helped Air Force equal the Navy score with another difficult penalty kick to make it 03-03.
Air Force defended extremely well early on in the game, but slowly began to wear out. Alisi Tupailai who had helped Navy SC earn a 5m penalty made good use of his efforts as he proved to be unstoppable, eventually going on to score the first try of the game. This was converted by Nuwan Hettiarchchi as Navy SC led 10-03.
Despite the try, Air Force continued to play some good rugby but were very unfortunate not to put any points on the board. The lack in ability to finish promising moves was punished by Navy SC when Saliya Handapangoda managed to gather a loose ball and dash his way towards the try line. Hettiarachhi added the extra points once again as Navy SC led 17-03 at lemons.
The defending champions turned up the heat in the second half, as Fijians Avokia Vota and Joeli Lutumailagi lit up the whole stadium with some dashing fast paced rugby. These two combined for the first try of the half with Lutumailagi adding the finishing touches. The Air Force defense was all too predictable, that eventually led to their own failure to contain the strong Navy duo.
Former Trinitian Thisila Karunathilake then managed to help Lutumailagi with his second, as the Fijian blazed through the right flank to score the fourth try for Navy SC. Chanaka Chandimal then joined the party, as he turned out to be the architect for Avokia Vota’s first try of the game with a fifty metre run to set up the Fijian. Navy SC led 41-03 at this point and were looking more menacing with every attack.
Avokia Vota went on to score his second, before Yoshitha Rajapakse wrapped it up under the post to score the seventh try for Navy SC. At the final whistle, Navy SC were on top with a 55-03 advantage.
