It was all about Kandy Sports Club once again who finished on top with an unbeaten record at the end of the first round of the Dialog Rugby League last weekend.
The dominant rugby team from the hill capital unleashed a robust and speedy brand of rugby that brought them victory in all their first round outings. One expected their last encounter against Havelock SC to be a closely fought out game but the numerous Havies fans were disappointed that their team could not get the better of Kandy SC.
As always Kandy SC began by taking an early lead that gave them the upper hand as the game progressed. This was what they did against CR & FC and all other teams they played against. That was their secret and it would be better if other teams keep this in mind during the second round games.
Havelocks could not stop Kandy from scoring early in the game but later they managed to keep a check on Kandy SC.
However, the Kandy backs and forwards were strong at pushing away the Havelocks defenders that allowed them to score twice.
Buddima Piyaratne who scored a good try and created another against Havelocks is their highest try scorer with six tries for a total of 30 points.
However, Tarinda Ratwatte is their highest scorer with 48 points made up from three tries, 12 conversions and three penalties.
Kandy SC occupy the top spot with 40 points which is an unreachable 19 points lead from the second placed team.
Police SC who beat Air Force SC but were held to a draw by Army SC last weekend allows occupied the second spot at end of the first round in the points table with 29 points. They had obtained six bonus points to give them one point more than Havelocks who were pushed back to third spot with 28 points.
Sachith Silva is the highest scorer for Police SC with 32 points. He has scored six tries and put over a conversion during the seven matches played so far. Their foreign player Emosi Vunivosa from Fiji has scored 20 points from four tries. He has displayed good team spirit and not played selfishly often finding the openings and passing out to allow his team mates to put the finishing touches to the moves.
Janith Chandimal has scored 27 points from eight conversions and two penalties for Police SC.
Havelock SC have one more win than Police SC but took the third slot in the points table at the end of last weekend. They obtained only three bonus points from their seven matches that have left them behind Police SC. Havelocks had not scored that many tries to earn the bonus points.
Prince Chamara is the highest scorer for Havelocks with 47 points including 12 conversions, one try and six penalties. CR & FC was placed fourth with 27 points with five wins, which was one more win than Police SC. They also had one bonus point less than Havelock SC which makes the slight difference. CR’s top scorer at the end of the first round was Rizah Mubarak with 58 points. He did not take the field against Navy SC due to illness. Yet he was the highest scorer in the tournament. Janidu Dilshan was the highest try scorer for CR with seven for a total of 35 points. Reza Refaideen led CR quite well in their game against Navy SC and scored a try and took the duties of taking the conversions with much success.
Navy SC too collected five bonus points from the seven matches but had won only two and lost five. Navy finished ahead of three other teams Army SC, CH & FC and Air Force SC who had won just one match each.
Although fielding a good team with players of quality CH & FC had been a flop in the first round. They finished one before the last team in the points table and sometimes may be allowed to field a foreign player next year.
This was a team that finished very well last season winning their last five games on the trot.
This year they have only one player who is in the list of leading scorers. He is Sathya Ranatunga who scored four tries for the 20 points he had collected.
Samuel Maduwantha had been in and out of the team due to injury. However, he is a reliable place kicker who had collected 16 points through conversions.