A new season breeds optimism for every team, and after a dismal start to the season a rejuvenated CR&FC team had no better opportunity to prove their re-emergence in the Dialog Rugby League than with a victory over arch rivals Kandy SC.
However, even though the home team started off extremely well at Longden Place the quality of attack that Kandy SC provided was too hot to handle.
Inspired by Fazil Marija who returned from injury, Kandy SC turned the tables very quickly after trailing to Rizah Mubarak’s boot early on. CR showed glimpses of what they could pull-off, especially in terms of their forwards, but for a team who failed to score a try last week against 14 men, a total of 160 minutes without a single try signifies a disastrous start to their campaign. CR tried very hard, but failed to sustain while Kandy SC managed to capitalize on mistakes and slowly but surely controlled the game throughout.
Lavanga Perera has been a revelation in recent times, and will be a force to reckon with in future games as well, his link up play with the fly-half and centres stood out for Kandy SC. Rizah Mubarak continued to be the ‘Golden Boy’ for CR scoring 24 out of the 27 points CR&FC have scored this season. A ‘one man team’? a bit hard to conclude on that yet, as we hope to witness a more resolute performance by the Longden Place boys in the future. However, the scores last week stood at 29-15 as Kandy managed to establish themselves as title challengers.
Sweet Revenge? After last year’s fiasco that left many people wondering if Army SC were robbed off a win due a refereeing mishap, Kawa’s minute penalty to down the dangerous Upcountry Lions would have been a moment to cherish. The match turned out to be a real ‘ding dong’ battle as the Lions lead through most of it, and definitely thought they had the game when Pera Gibbs slotted in a penalty to make the scores 20-19 in favour of the Lions with only five minutes to play. But a costly mistake by centre Taufai Tevita led to a penalty being awarded to Army SC which was gleefully accepted by Kawa who made no mistake in kicking it between the two uprights. At the full time whistle, Army had sealed a nail biting 22-20 victory; sweet revenge indeed.
Rain rain go away, let’s play another day; the heavens opened up on the match between Navy and Police played at Welisara, as the match was postponed to the next day just before the half time whistle. Navy had a 22-03 lead when the match was called off with Stefano Cakanavalu, Dhanushka Perera and ‘new kid on the block’ Lee Keegel who was transferred from Havelocks SC scoring a try each. After the restart on Sunday, the sailors added three more tries to their match tally to wallop the Policemen 46-10 at home. The Royalists duo of Ijaaz Bohoran and Arshad Jamaldeen were the only point scorers for Police with the former scoring his first try in club rugby.
CH received another 50+ point battering this week as well, when defending champions Havelock SC raked in a 51-20 victory at Maitland Crescent. However, after the battering CH received at Nittawala the week before, this was a more improved performance as they managed to stay in the game in the first half, also managing to get past a strong Havelocks defense to score twice in the game.
Havies on the other hand proved to be top title contenders, with a superlative performance. Sadun Herath scored a double early in the game which started the party for the Havelock Park boys who went on to score nine tries. Fortunately, Villiami Hakolos horrendous day with the boots didn’t prove to be costly, as he managed to make only three conversions out of the nine available.
Debutants Hambantota Sharks impressed against Airforce as they managed enforce a draw and earn their first points in the Dialog Rugby League. The Sharks scored all their points in the first half, and led by three points until Asanka Perera helped Airforce equalize in the last quarter of the match. This was the first Sharks game this season, after the match against Havelocks was postponed due to a technical issue with the flood lights in the ground.
Kandy SC will lead the Dialog Rugby League, but is closely followed by Navy SC with both teams having secured twelve points, earning a maximum from both games. Army SC who won both their games so far fill in at third place. Defending Champions Havies have a game in hand and will also be in the running having secured full points against CH. CH&FC languishes at the bottom of the table after two dismal performances, while CR&FC have only themselves to blame losing both their games thus far.
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