Navy saved their final torpedo for Havelock Park, and ended the Dialog Rugby A Division League as unbeaten champions. It was a superlative achievement as the league was even more competitive than it was last year.
Coming into the final weekend, the only thing left to determine was whether or not Navy would lift the shield unbeaten, and at a packed Havelock Park, they provided the answer.
Havelocks v Navy
Navy had gone for defensive ability and picked Banuka Nanayakkara on the wing to mark Dhabare and Jason Dissanayake to mark the dangerous Sandun Herath. The two packs were evenly matched upfront although Achala Perera’s move to prop could have been exploited by Terrence Henry.
Havelocks had also made to changes, one of which cost them the chance to be competitive. Bringing in Dulaj Perera for the experienced Niroshan Fernando was a massive mistake I thought as Fernando has much more experience and his bad day would have been less disappointing than Dulaj’s bad day. As it turned out, although the other change, Devin Jayasinghe in for Mohamed Sherriff, gave Havelocks early points his contribution was short and lack of match practice cost Havies a try.
Dulaj struggled to find touch out of hand and Navy’s Hettiarachchi and Setefano returned with interest. Although Nuwan missed a couple of kicks early on he returned to form spectacularly. Jayasinghe’s misjudgment under a high ball led to Dhanushka Perera cleverly exploiting his field position to offload to Cakau who breezed in under the posts. Navy managed to score despite suffering a ten minute period with the impressive Mateaki Kofatolu in the sin bin for a punch. Namal Rajapaksha smartly spotted the disadvatage against Kaho and went into the blood bin to bring on Vota to take the big Tongan defensively. It was a smart bit of play, and showed the reactive nature of the incumbent Sri Lankan captain, in reading a game.
After half time the returning Sherriff and Fernando could not do much, with Havelocks back line failing to fire, and Navy’s defensive organisation being excellent. The game became a little unstructured, and referee Norman Drake certainly didn’t add to the spectacle refusing to allow the game to flow. The highest try scorer of the tournament, Sandun Herath, was unable to make a mark as Dissanayake and his fellow defenders shut him down easily. Navy’s lineout was able to secure their own ball and it nullified one of the Havie’s main threats.
Although they have scored points abundantly, the hallmark of Navy in the second round of the League has been their defense. Organised, and quick off the line, they have shut down teams like Kandy, Havelocks and the Lions who all have dangerous runners. They usually score off the turnovers, and they did it twice in this game as well. Podi Swarnatilleke’s try for Navy was a deserved one for the big prop, as he has been having an outstanding season both in the scrum and the loose.
Havelocks tried to use their superior scrummaging technique to buy themselves a try in the last few moments of the game, but Navy held on grimly to protect their unbeaten tag 20 – 13.
Army v Kandy
Army’s home game was shifted to Race Course, and despite the change in venue, they were not able to make a dent in the Kandy armour as the second placed team went on to score a bonus point win and hang on to second place by 29-12. Once again Army showed their reliance on Lalai Jalebula as he scored again for the home side.
Nevertheless, Kandy’s famed back line showed what they can do with good ball and space and Fazil Marija was instrumental in orchestrating offensive play as well as counter attacking from deep. Despite their attacking prowess however, Kandy have been found wanting defensively, and it will need some serious reorganising before the knock outs. They have also been vulnerable upfront and have wilted against bigger heavier packs, although Army were unable to compete with the mobility of the Kandy three quarters and let them run in four tries for a 29-12 victory.
CR v Upcountry
This first match of the weekend should have been a scorcher, given that the overcast conditions were ripe for running rugby and both teams were fighting for fourth place in the tournament. However, the foreign referee Norman Drake was the star of the show preventing either team from putting any phases together, with his officious refereeing.
Upcountry went into the lead when Niroshan Karuananayake created a try out of nothing, when UCL had dropped the ball wide outside. The former Wesley and CR centre, stepped passed Pium Jayasinghe easily to score the first try of the game. CR got back into the game with the boot of Mubarak who should have taken his side to lemons with a one point lead instead of a 5 point deficit.
Nevertheless, he was absolved of blame when the players in front of him failed to take any initiative to score when at one stage UCL were reduced to twelve men. However, the defensive outnumbering told against the Lions who were beginning to look tired, and CR scored off two successive driving mauls from 5m line outs. Saajid Suhaib’s outstanding poaching in the line out was a feature for the Lions although CR won the two crucial 5m throws.
At 17-08 CR were controlling the game, but the substitution of Nissan for Semeane, seemed to upset CR’s defensive rhythm. The game that had been sluggish and lethargic suddenly burst into life with Tavita Taufei and Peniasi Tokakece making line breaks that CR could ill afford. After Shanaka Kumara missed an easy conversion to bring the Lions within touching distance at 17-13 after Peniasi’s try, CR completely fell apart and Nigel Ratwatte’s after a Taufai break took them into the lead.
Sooriyabandara, trying to buy his team some time and territory attempted a drop goal from 55m out. It was impossible to say whether the ball cleared the cross bar, but referee Drake decided to award it from 45m away much to the chagrin of Rimzi Jamaldeen who insisted it did not go over. This flattened the already flagging morale of CR and Ratwatte’s second, in a three try blitz saw them become deserved fourth place finishers with a 30-17 victory.
