Bahrain RFC picked up their first win of the ‘Western Asia Club Rugby Championships’ today (31st August), beating the home team Kandy SC, 31-20 at the Nittawela grounds in Kandy.
The atmosphere at Nittawela as always was loud and intense; the game was filled with some thrilling action. Bahrain dominated for large periods of the game, with the home team Kandy delivering a plucky second half performance.
Numerous handling errors and repeated infringements made the game a stop-start affair in the first half, with the backlines of both teams coming more in to the game in the second half.
Bahrain began on the front foot and they were rewarded for their dominance with their forwards. Lindsey Gibson the hooker went over at the back of a well-set driving maul after Kandy had given away a series of penalties. Luke Radley did not convert, giving Bharain a 5-0 lead after five minutes. (BRFC 5-0 KSC)
The home side eventually cut back the lead in the 11th minute courtesy a Thilina Wijesinghe penalty, after the Bahrain backline strayed offside in defense. (BRFC 5-3 KSC)
Seconds later Luke Radley made it 8-3 when he added a three-pointer off the kicking tee midway through the half, after Uchitha Jayasuriya was blown up for side-entry at a ruck. (BRFC 8-3 KSC)
Bahrain extended their lead with another Luke Radley penalty from their first foray after the restart, with Kandy lock Heshan Kalhara being penalized for not releasing the tackler. (BRFC 11-3 KSC)
Bahrain continued to put a lot of pressure on the Kandy forwards, repeated infringements and errors cost Kandy at the end of the day as 12 points came from the kicking tee. Luke Radley added his 3rd Penalty of the first half for having hands in the ruck. (BRFC 14-3 KSC)
Radley’s penalty saw the visitors leading by a cushion of 2 scores as Referee Norman blew his whistle for time in the half-time.
Half Time: Bahrain RFC 14(1T 3P) – 3 (1P) Kandy SC
Bahrain showed urgency of needing to score first in the second half and did just that in the 42nd minute, when Suna Famitao crossed wide on the left. Radley failed to land the touchline conversion, his side though was well in front, 19-3. It was a worrying moment for Kandy as Bahrain upped the tempo of the game.
However, Bahrain were on the back foot in the middle of the second half, when Kandy were finally rewarded as Buwaneka Udangamuwa found himself in space inside the opposition half and did well to get a pass out to Wishwamithra Jayasinghe, who touched down in the left-hand corner to score their first try of the game. Wijesinghe’s kick found its target as the game suddenly became more intense. (BRFC 19-10 KSC)
Trailing 10 –19, Kandy then added three points in front of the goal, which put Bahrain under some pressure with the lead finally narrowing down. Wijesinghe was yet again the man doing the kicking duties. (BRFC 19-13 KSC)
Bahrain once again started to attack bringing in replacements. They were rewarded with two tries in two minutes from Mark Burnwell and from a penalty try. Burnwell’s effort came after he burst through tackles from Heshan Kalhara and Shashika Jayawardana, just outside the Kandy 22, before out sprinting the cover defense on his way over the try-line.
Bahrain seemed to have quelled any hopes of a Kandy comeback when the referee awarded the penalty try late in the game for repeated scrum infringements. (BRFC 31-13 KSC)
Despite a late Lahiru Daulagala try, the Middle Eastern club calmly saw out the game as they conquered the Nittawela stadium.
Full Time: Bahrain 31(3T 1PT 1C 3P) – 20 (2T 2C 2P) Kandy SC
ThePapare.com player of the match – Tom Bell
Score Breakdown:
Bahrain
Luke Radley (1C 3P)
Mark Burnwell (1T)
Sunia Fameituao (1T)
Kandy
Wishwamithra Jayasinghe (1T)
Lahiru Daulagala (1T)
Thilina Wijesinghe (2C 2P)
