Up Country Lions Sports Club continued with their giant killing act once again as they edged out Sri Lanka Army Sports Club by 21 points to 17 points in an exciting Dialog Inter Club ‘A’ division league rugby tournament second round fixture worked off at the Jayathilaka Stadium in Nawalapitiya today.
The winners collected their points from one goal, one try and three penalties after having led 15-10 at half time while Army SC responded with two goals and one penalty.
This success had a great amount of significance for Up Country Lions Sports Club as they were able to avenge their first round defeat where they went down fighting by a narrow margin of 20-22 points under soggy ground conditions at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Diyagama, Homagama.
But this time, the Up Country Lions Sports Club were equal to their task as they dished out one of their best performances so far in the tournament to register an important victory which will also reaffirm their position among the top four in the league.
In fact they have been in this position almost throughout the current season as well as last year which speaks volume of their consistency having made their debut in ‘A’ Division Rugby barely two years ago.
But they seem to have made vast strides within this short period of time and they have proved on more than a couple of occasions that they have the potential to challenge any top team competing in this tournament.
This success will certainly be a huge morale booster for the Up Country Lions Sports Club team as they are set to meet the table leaders and top contenders Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club next week at Welisara.
The manner in which Up Country Lions Sports club handled the pressure in this game was quite outstanding considering the fact that Army SC had a couple of big guns with them who had earlier turned things around almost single handedly.
In addition Up Country Lions Sports Club went into this game under the backdrop of some uncertainty as they had suffered a demoralizing 11-46 defeat at the hands of the former league champions Kandy Sports Club at the Nittawela Stadium.
However Up Country Lions Sports Club were able to regroup once again and produce something exceptional while clearly demonstrating their capabilities of rising to the occasion even under trying circumstances.
This was very evident in their performances against Sri Lanka Army SC as they scored two early tries through Ranga Perera and Dilan Soysa with Nigel Ratwatte obliging with three crucial penalties.
Even then this may be a severe blow for Army SC who have shown a lot of promise throughout the season to emerge as one of the most unpredictable teams competing in this tournament.
No doubt they will be really disappointed that they could not pull it off because they too had the satisfaction of scoring two tries in this game and it was through penalties that they lost the match ultimately.
In that context full back Nigel Ratwatte’s three penalties were absolutely valuable points for the Up Country Lions Sports Club considering the fact that they had also missed out a couple of genuine scoring opportunities in the second half.
Referee: Dinka Peiris
