Havelock’s staved off a second half Kandy rally winning 22-16 to book their place in the 2014 Dialog Clifford Club Knockout finals at the magnificently laid out Race Course grounds.
The opening phases of the game showed sloppy hands from both sides with handling errors a plenty, but the players got their act together albeit unhurriedly. Kandy was the first on the board through Gayan Weeraratne’s boot as he slotted two penalties across to give his side an early 6 nothing lead. One of the penalties was on a yellow card which was shown to Sudarshan Muthuthanthri for a late tackle.
Havies did not allow for the lead to remain as they struck immediately after the second penalty. Impressive close quarter play by the Havelock park lads saw Sharo Fernando going over after the ball had grazed many a forward hand. Joe Brown was spot on with the conversion and put Havelock’s into the lead 7-6.
The weather took a turn to the rainy side as the heaven’s opened up in the second quarter of the game. Both Havelock’s and Kandy were looking to adapt to the new development and Havelock’s looked the more comfortable team under the circumstances, a tad more than their counterparts. The Havies forwards took charge of the play for most part of the second quarter holding on to possession and piling the pressure on the opposition. Fazil Marija was shown a yellow card just on the brink of half time, and Joe Brown inched his team’s lead further with the ensuing penalty, 10-6 Havelock’s at half time.
Havies brought their good hands and fortune to the second half as well scoring almost immediately from the kick-off. A punt with the intention of gaining yardage with good follow up saw an opportunity open up with the collection and wrap up of the ball being botched. Sharo Fernando was once more in the thick of things cleanly collecting and going over for a moral boosting lead. Conversion went astray, Havelock’s extended their lead 15-6. Both the teams were soon down to 14 men as Sharo Fernando and Gayan Weeraratne were shown yellow cards.
Paulo Kaho, the coach/player for the Havelock park club continued with his good form and put another notch on his tries scored sheet as he smartly picked up a quick tap and scored after a barrage of hitting by his forwards. Joe Brown had no problems with the conversion with Kaho scoring under the post and took the score to 22-6.
The last quarter of the game saw the hill capital lads up their game a bit, and the usual go-to man for Kandy Fazil Marija was the one to bring home the bacon as his brilliant support play and being at the right place at the right time earned him a well-deserved try. Weeraratne putting through the conversion from front of the posts reduced Kandy’s deficit to 9 points, 22-13. Kandy brought the game closer with another Weeraratne penalty taking the scores to 22-16, and only a score away from victory. Havelock’s were under pressure and only just managed to turn-over ball to keep things under control. Joe Brown missed a penalty attempt which could have taken the hope out of Kandy but was unsuccessful. Havelock’s though controlled the game until the clock ran out and took the win with the score line remaining 22-16.
Havelock’s had a marginal lead over their counterparts on the day and managed to hold on to take the big win and the final berth against unbeaten league winners Navy Sports Club. Come Sunday Navy and Havelock’s will scrum down for the knock-out glory, Navy to stamp their authority and Havelock’s for redemption.
