Kandy hand off Air Force

Kandy hand off Air Force

By Shamzeer Jaleel

Kandy SC 52 points

Air Force 22 points

Kandy SC continued their unbeaten run in the Inter Club league rugby tournament when they outclassed and outplayed Sri Lanka Air Force by 52 points (8 tries, 6 conversions) to 22 points (4 tries, 1 conversion) win at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium yesterday.

At the short breather Kandy led 38/5.

Kandy played their usual form of open and attacking rugby when they accounted for 6 first half tries where the visitors could reply only with one of them. Kandy who opted to rest their best players, Danushka Ranjan and Heshan Kalhara gave opportunity for Oshan Perera and former Antonian and national youth player, Mohamed Shabeer. For Kandy as usual Buwanaka Ddangamuwa, Anurudha Wilwara, Nigel Ratwatte and Yakoob Ali stood for the Kandy outfit with some fine attacking moves. Thie rnumber 8, Buwanka Udangamuwa stood out in both defense as well in attack.

Air Force who played well in patches did come back but briefly in the later half. They dominated proceedings for about 20  minutes in the later half attacking from Kandy half where they were able to touch down on three occasions but they lacked continuity in their game. They conceded two many points as they delayed in settling which cost them the game. A deifict of 33 points in the first half was too much to recover for them. Prop Forward, Praveen Charles, Iddamalgod and Nuwan Perera were on top of their games.

Kandy drew first blood when their Hooker cum Prop Forward, Yakoob Ali touched down. Thilina Wijesinghe added the extras. Kandy scored through Wilwara (2), Vishwamithra (2) and Nigel Ratwatte in the initial half. Thilina converted another three of them at take the short breather at 38/5.

After the turn around Kandy scored two more tries through Buwanka Udangamuwa and Thilina Wijesinghe while the visitors touched down thrice through Praveen Charles, Prakrama Ratnayake and Nuwan Perera. Iddamalgoda converted one of them.

Referee Priya Suranga  

Kandy will host Army SC on January 12 at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium.

Kandy SC winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe on his way to score his first try of the match

Photo credit  Shamzeer Jaleel