Kandy Sports Club were made to earn a well calculated 28 points (4 tries, 4 conversions) to 19 (3 tries, 2 conversions) win over a fighting Air Force SC team in a Dialog ‘A’ Division League rugby encounter played at the Air Force ground in Ratmalana yesterday as the match was also help up in the absence of a medical doctor.
Kandy SC scored their tries when it was needed to keep abreast with the scores of the Airmen. This kept them always ahead with the scores as the Airmen also dished out some fierce rugby. They enjoyed most of possession but just failed to penetrate the concrete wall of defence put up by Kandy SC. The game was held up for about ten minutes due to some injuries sustained by players of both teams and there was no doctor at the venue. The game resumed only after the presence of a doctor and an ambulance which the match officials failed to note before the game started.
Kandy opened scoring with the kick-off and just 34 seconds into the game. The move started from their own half that saw centre Richard Dharmapala go through beating just one man in defence. Thilina Wijesinghe made good with the conversion to lead 7-0.
Air Force got their opportunity to score in the 30th minute when a three-quarter move saw Sooriya Kishan dummy his way past a few defenders to score under the post. Gayantha Iddamalgoda converted and the scores were equal.
After that Kandy looked to open out the game and after nine minutes scored another try. The ball changed hands among the three-quarters and Richard Dharmapala was unstoppable. Wijesinghe converted to give Kandy SC a 14-7 lead.
With that score Kandy led at half time.
However in the second half the Airmen scored in the 43rd minute through a forwards ploy as their foreign player Ladoowe barged over with the ball for a try. Iddamalgoda converted 14-14. Just five minutes later Kandy scored through Dharmapala who again cut in to touch down.
Wijesinghe converted and Kandy SC led 21-14.
The Airmen kept the pressure on Kandy SC by keeping the ball among their forwards and moving ahead. They scored another try through Rumesh Ramdas who fell on the loose ball after a Kandy fumble.
Iddamalgoda failed to convert and Kandy led 21-19.
Thereafter Kandy scored again through their scrum half Roshan Weeraratne who went through an opening for Wijesinghe to convert and Kandy were safely ahead with 28 points to 19 at the final whistle.
Dinka Peiris refereed. (TBR)