It’s all over folks. Navy are the Champions with a week to spare. This weekend was going to decide whether it would go down to the wire, but Kandy’s performance, and Navy’s brilliant comeback, meant that next weekend’s Navy v Havelocks clash will be purely a battle of pride. And what a battle that will be.
Navy v Kandy
Kandy started brightly, much to the delight of their traveling fans. Two tries in a flash from Richie Dharmpala and David Halaifonua had the the Welisara faithful a little worried to start off with. Weeraratne’s form with the boot though, meant that tries was the only way that Kandy could score.
Slowly and surely, Navy started making inroads and Namal Rajapaksha’s hustle saw him steal the ball off a desperate Kandy pass and from the resulting phase Cakau combined with the excellent Mateaki Kotefalu who finished the move. The Navy foreigners have been head and shoulders above everyone else this season, and Cakau has probably been the man of the tournament.
Kandy’s afternoon was summed up when they failed to react to Hettiarachchi’s ricochet, which was brilliantly followed up by Dinusha Chathuranga. They stood and watched while Navy ran at them. The defense was even worse for the next try when Cakau strolled through the breakdown to go under the posts, and by then Kandy were broken. Although Cakau fashioned the tries, the Navy midfield and third row were superb in defense, getting in the face of the Kandy line and Chanaka Chandimal fittingly scored a try to cap a performance in which he shaded his illustrious opposite number.
The elder Rajapaksha’s work rate was excellent, and his leadership of the forwards was superb. He had an outstanding game, and helped brother Chichi to lead Navy to their first League title. Yoshitha and Bilal Hassen coming into the third row late on in the game caused more havoc to Kandy who had no answer to what Navy threw at them.
Apart from working it wide off first phase, without the quality in the third row to back that game plan, Kandy were always going to be exposed. And exposed they were. Apart from the opening salvo there was nothing to offer and the performance was reminiscient of their succumbing to pressure last year when they were hammered away from home by the eventual champions – Havelocks. Kandy have got to develop the mental toughness to come back into games. They are good leading, but somehow don’t seem to be able to show the resilience to get back into a match.
The 38-14 win for Navy was a fitting finale to their home games, and they will pick up the title next week, regardless of the outcome.
Lions v Havelocks
Havies were lucky to escape this one and nearly lost to the unlucky Lions who threw everything at the opposition. Their foreign players too came to the party, and ably supported by Sooriyabandara and Ratwatte, led the Havelocks for a large portion of the game. Unfortunately for the Lions though, William Hakalo’s boot which had let the Havelocks down in the first round, found its mark, and discipline and superior forward pressure, eventually cost UCL the game 29-25.
It was a good showing by the Lions though, and I don’t understand why Soori doesn’t play fly half regularly. He is much more dangerous at first receiver than he is from the base, and it is a waste of a good scrum half in Delan De Soyza not to exploit the combination. Ratwatte is talented enough to play anywhere and could be devastating from full back if given enough ball.
Havelocks have already suffered two defeats this season and seemed well on course for a third but the experience of the visitors finally pulled through, setting up a grudge battle against the champion Navy team under lights next week.
Army v CR
As it turned out, this was the closest game of the weekend by far. It turned out to be a battle between the Army forwards and Rizah Mubarak who kicked 17 points and created the try scored by Ashan De Costa. The Army forwards were relentless and forced CR to play in their own half for a large part of the game.
Army coach Ben McDougal suggested it would be a battle of coaches, with two evenly matched teams, and for a while it looked like his substitutions bringing Upali Wickramasinghe on with Esava Dilai, would seal the game for Army. The latter added to compatriot Lalai Jale Bola’s try and outscored the winners in the try count. It was indiscipline that cost them, and the radar on Mubarak’s boot punished Army from very limited opportunities.
A six of one, half a dozen of the other call from referee Otsuki and assistant Dimithri saw a Heshan Gunaratne efford disallowed for CR, but apart from that they didn’t look close to penetrating the opposition defence. For that matter, neither did Army. Maika Lagiqaqa was disappointing at fly half and they had to rely heavily on their foreign players to score them points.
The army front five competed well though, and Asoka Jayalal led a physical confrontation which saw several bodies scattered on the floor. In the end it was difficult to pick a winner, but Mubarak’s sterling evening gave his side a wafer thin 22-21 win.
