Tharinda Ratwatte dazzles in Kandy’s 33-19 win over Police at rugby

By A Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy SC secured a hard fought 33-19 win over a fighting Police SC outfit in their Division 1 Inter-Club league rugby tournament match played at Nittawela grounds on Sunday (December 17).

Kandy SC had their memorable moments in the game in both halves. And their overall dominance was only checked during the brief periods in the game when they gave away three yellow cards; one in the first half and the other two in the second half. The winners were unstoppable in the first half, during which period they earned four of their five tries scored in the game. Tharinda Ratwatte was at his brilliant best for Kandy SC once again and scored a try each in both halves apart from the success he had with his kicking boots and defence work. The first half tries for Kandy came through the efforts of Dhanushka Ranjan, Dilshan Fareed, Tharinda Ratwatte and fourth off a rolling mail. The winners went into half time with the score reading 26-7.

If Police clicked in all departments and as a team it was in the second half where they earned two vital tries and also pressured Kandy to give away two more yellow cards and be down to 14 men. And most importantly Police crossed the Kandy goal line for the second time in the game early in the second half when Kandy were struggling after being down to 14 men.

Sachin Silva produced a smashing try for Police with the second half ten minutes old. And five minutes later seasoned hooker Dulanjana Wijesinghe produced Police’s third try after coming off the bench and changing roles from coach to player. His presence stirred some excitement but wasn’t enough to rally Police SC to find their way over the Kandy SC goal line for the fourth time in this game, which produced meat for spectators till the final whistle of referee Ishanka Abeyoon went.

Kandy sealed the game seven minutes from the end when Ratwatte scored again after smothering a kick and then taking the ball over the Police goal line.

On Saturday Army Sports Club produced thunder at ‘The Park Club’ grounds when they went down fighting to Havelocks SC 43-41 in a game which could have gone the other way if the kicks at goal came right for the soldiers. Army took the honours in the game largely because of a spirited second half rally during which they came back fighting with six tries. Army were trailing 33-7 at the ‘breather’.

Havies started off well dominating the first half and continued the momentum into the second half but were really tested in the second half with the unexpected performance by Army. Havies scored their points through six tries, five conversions and a penalty while Army responded with seven tries and three conversions. Skipper Azmeer Fajudeen dazzled for the host team with two tries while Lahiru Ratnayake, Sudharaka Dikkumbura and Lasantha Kumara touched down twice each to propel Army’s score at regular intervals.

Also on Saturday the fast improving CH & FC side beat Navy SC 34-14 in a hard fought game at Welisara. The winners collected their points through five tries, three conversions and a penalty while the sailors responded with two tries and two conversions.

On Friday at Longden Place hosts CR & FC downed a fighting Police SC outfit by 29 points to 5 with the Red Shirts collecting their points through five tries and two conversions. Police responded with a try.