Two Thrashings and a Nail Biter

The opening weekend of the second round gave up some surprising results in the Cup competition. Surprising not so much as to who the winners were, but the scorelines of the games themselves.

Army v Navy

As it happened Army hosted Navy on Thursday instead of Friday as the game was scheduled. It was a pretty last minute change. No idea yet, why. To be honest, I expected this game to be much closer. With Jalebula and new winger Desai being great linebreakers, I didn’t think Army will go down without a whimper in the first half, especially at home.

However, The 46 points Navy scored in the first 40 minutes was incredible. The 120 something points in 80 mins of rugby between two A Division sides, was yet another eyebrow raiser. Eventually the game finished 71-43 with Navy finishing with the ten tries they needed to close the gap on Havelocks, and Army coming away with a losing bonus point as well, for scoring four tries.

All in all, a happy result for both teams.

CR v Havelocks

This traditional fixture for the Matthysz Trophy, was made all the closer by Havies needing to play a game in midweek. The extra day’s rest the Tournament Committee granted Havelocks would have helped immensely, although fatigue did seem to be setting in when CR fought back late in the second half.

Once again, the defending champions had to rely on a moment of brilliance from Sandun Herath, who has, in a short career displayed more all round skills and raw pace, than Sanjeeva Jayasinghe in his heyday. His first half try beating as many as four defenders, was a beauty and seperated the two teams at half time 8-3, with the usually reliable Mubarak missing two shots at goal, which by his standards, should probably have been converted.

Havelocks, with Meedin restored at scrum half, only found slow ball despite having a scrum that was destroying the opposition for most of the game. They were unable to show the fluency they need to mount a serious challenge to Navy, and several balls didn’t find their intended recipient outwide. CR had the wayward passing to thank for being in the game, as the outside backs for Havelocks butchered several overlaps.

After the turn around, captain Ishan Noor touched down off a patient pick and go by the CR forwards, who were at the receiving end last time around when the two teams met. This was after Ashan Costa opportunistically hacked forward another dropped Havelocks pass and did well to recover the ball in a 50m chase. CR showed patience in the ensuing phases and scored to take the lead for the only time in the game with Mubarak’s excellent conversion.

Havelocks then hit back with some close quarter stuff of their own, and injured skipper Dhiren Warnakulasuriya finished from 2m out, where he is difficult to stop. CR lost Anuja Perera in the early exchanges to a yellow card, which upset their scrum and line out, and then lost makeshift flanker Radeesha Seneviratne to another yellow just before the try was scored. It was this period immediately after half time, spearheaded by captain Muthuthanthri and co flanker Pathirana, that rattled CR into conceding two quick tries. Muthuthanthri is playing the rugby of his life, and as an open side has performed brilliantly this season. In fact he and Herath, and to a lesser extent Dhabare have been the match winners for the defending champions. Muthu and Dhabare pounced on Sherriff’s quick thrown in from the line out off a weak Mubarak clearance, and the CR defence went to sleep.

CR closed the 22-10 deficit with a rolling maul try which was perfectly executed, and although both Kavindu Costa on at scrum half and Ashan Costa on the wing came tantalisingly close with a couple of line breaks, Havelocks defence held firm to close the out the match, and retain the Matthysz trophy with a 22-17 win following their 29-23 win in the first leg. CR get the losing bonus point, but Havelocks will now have to hope that CR hold Navy without a bonus next week as well.

Kandy v UCL

After the loss last week, Roshan Weeraratne’s boys knew that they couldn’t let the Nittawela faithful down. The Lions visited with some confidence but Samisoni’s early belligerence put them on the back foot. With Marija and Weeraratne returning to form, Kandy played some of the fast open rugby that they have become famous for.

The one time champs struggle in the face of a strong forward unit. But of the top 6 teams Upcountry and Kandy probably have the weakest, least experienced set of forwards, and this was always going to be a sevens game with fifteen men. In a match played at pace, Kandy have few challengers, and they blew UCL away 46-11 despite the best efforts of the gutsy Sooriyabandara.

Kandy know now, that they can only fight for second place, and with Havelocks due to visit, they will be champing at the bit.

Plate

In the plate competition Police thumped CH 65-19 with winger Lahiru Gurusinghe nudging the national selectors. Meanwhile, Air Force came from behind to beat the favoured Sharks, who again suffered from their mid week hammering at the hands of Havelocks.