The Dialog Clifford Cup has gone according to form, and the top 2 teams are in the final. Although Kandy will argue that the Havelocks game was an upset in the second semi final, I don’t really think so, given the way Kandy approached the game. The final will bring the two best forward packs in the country together. The match will be decided on discipline and pretty much that alone.
Let’s look at how the teams made it.
Navy v UCL
The first semi final started well, with the Lions who had destroyed CR by a half a century of points, meeting the Navy who had pretty much done the same to Air Force. However, I thought that the Lions did themselves a disservice by playing Nigel Ratwatte who was not entirely fit after resting him for the previous game. Talented though he is, the lad doesn’t play his best rugby at fly half, and with Srinath Sooriyabandara leading the line the Lions have always looked more penetrative.
His touch kicking was superlative though, but despite that the Navy line out was impeccable and the battle upfront was comfortably with the sailors. In addition, 65 minutes of outstanding third row play was witnessed through Mateaki Kofatolu, the Samoan no. 8 for Navy, who was superb in both attack and defence. The eight man was devastating with the ball in hand and scored the second try off a 5m scrum after Namal Rajapaksha returned to his old ways of being unstoppable from close to the line, in scoring the first try for Navy after Lions pressure at the other end.
Rugby is a game of momentum and after that momentum turned, the Lions surrendered. Setefano was once again the chief line breaker, and any attempted attacks by the Lions was thwarted by Kofatolu who tackled and forced penalties at the breakdown. The defensive effort was excellent by Navy, to shut down a team that had run in loads of tries against a decent side in their previous match. Sooriyabandara doesn’t have the same gaps to exploit from scrum half and I think his 15 a side position from here on end is at fly half.
Navy deservedly got through to the finals with a 35-23 win, and will face a sterner test upfront, with the finals.
Havies v Kandy
The league games went with the home team and the neutral venue matchup between these two sides was always going to be interesting. However, without hooker Damith Dissanayake and flanker Keith Gurusinghe, the Kandy pack was always going to be found wanting by a well drilled, pedigreed, Havies eight.
Many will argue that it was the rain that lost the game for Kandy, but it wasn’t. It was their completely inept scrum and line out that lost the game. The forwards seem weak and unfit, with Dinesh Sanjeeva struggling to make the Sri Lankan line up on his showing this season. David Samisoni is big, but he’s not a player that can inspire and rally a forward pack. With the poor ball coming their way from the forwards, the backs were starved, and the halves combination didn’t have a good outing either.
It was only Sashika Jayawardena’s run late on in the second half that showed some fight from Kandy and couple of breaks at the death by Fazil Marija may have stolen the game, but it was not to be.
Havelocks, while being relieved at the win, will be upset by how close the match was on the scoreboard which read 22-16. They are struggling to turn pressure into points and also struggling to get Herath and Dhabare in the game. The two SL wingers are kept on ice for most of the game and it is very seldom that the ball moves fluently wide from the set piece. The dominance in the front five and the line out was exceptional and they will have to be at their best in the final.
The FINAL
The grand final of the Dialog Clifford Cup will be on Sunday, under lights at the Race Course. In addition to the neutral venue, there is also a possibility that the recent onset of evening rain, will interfere with the team’s game plan.
Navy are going for the double, and Rohitha Rajapaksha is a the favourite to be the first Navy captain to lift not one but two trophies in 2014. The sailors defence has been their trump card all season and Lee Keegal together with Cakau have shut down the opposition in almost every match they have played. Chanaka Chandimal is really coming into his own, and the battle between him and Niroshan Fernando will be an intriguing one. Niroshan has not been as good as he was last year, and will need to show his improved running game to try and take it to the league champions.
For Navy, Mateaki Kofatolu will have a battle on his hands with Muthuthanthri and Pathirana foraging. It is likely that the discipline of the third rows will decide this game. While navy have line breakers in midfield, Havies will need to get Dhabare and Herath running off the shoulders of the fly half and Joe Brown, in order to create some holes in Navy’s defence. But once again the Navy third row has been excellent, and the depth of being able to bring players in the calibre of Yoshitha Rajapakasha and Bilal Hassen off the bench means that breaching the defence is even harder.
It’ll be an uphill battle for Havelocks, and I don’t see the fluency coming in for the final game of the season. If Navy can keep the ball from getting to Herath in broken field, they should be be covered.
