Kandy Sports Club are brimming with confidence after their unbeaten run in the first round and will today confront Air Force SC in their second round opener of the inter club Dialog trophy league rugby tournament match at Nittawela,
At present Kandy SC are at their best and sure to give the Airmen a torrid time. In this game Air Force SC forwards will be under pressure more than they had in the other matches and Kandy SC should have no difficulty in winning possession with their superb ball handling forwards.
Kandy SC had been hard at practices under the guidance of John Taylor and Fazil Marija in the absence of regular coach Sean Wijesinghe, who is away in Canada.
Kandy have the ability to play controlled rugby with their forwards while their back-line can be a cut above the rest. Air Force SC too are blessed with an overseas coach and good players, but could not give off their best in the first round and have failed to live up to expectations.
Kandy’s halves combination have hit it smooth and the two centres who are very fast in their job along with the wingers could be assured of good ball to run along the line.
The Airmen have a good set of forwards who should be able to play together if they are to hold back the home team from going on a scoring spree.
Squads:
Kandy SC - Richard Dharmapala (captain), Lavanga Perera, Damith Dissanayake, Sashika Jayawardena, Roshan Weeraratne, Keshan Kalhara, Arshad Jamaldeen, Buwenaka Udangamuwa, Thilina Wijesinghe, Tharindu Chathuranga, Jason Dissanayake, Soyuru Anthony, Ganuka Dissanayake, Yakoob Ali, S Pathirana, Nigel Ratwatte, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Dhanush Dayan, Anushka Ranjan, Ashan Darling, Uchitha Jaysuriya, Lasitha Atthangoda, Heshan Jason, Omantha Panthiwantha, Kelum Madusanka, Malith Wijesundara, M. Shabeer, Imad Reyal, Sanushka Abeyawickrema, Laskitha Ranaweera, Asitha Ratnayake, Chamika Perera.
Air Force SC - HML Udayanga (captain), MMG Iddamalgoda, DNS Weeraratne, NMTY Sarathchandra, Frank, RMN Rajanayake, HR Wasantha, WMS Banda, YUGCP Abeyaratne, WAM Kasun, JHP Madushanka, JAD Nilantha, UVPNS Weralla, GKGSM Samarakoon, KGCB Seneviratne, HMML Perera, KAS Udayakumar, RP Mahagedera, RM Jayaratne, JADIS Krishan, RAK Manupriya, WAKN Perera, JPI Madushan, KGTR Bandara, TI Jaleel, R Rumesh, HMR Perera, NKDT Shanaka, MR Amith, WWSH Thilakaratne, KMW Wickremasinghe, WYAA Vinod, GLDPRP Weerasinghe, JRC Praveen, AJE Seelagama.