Kandy Sports Club, the unbeaten League champions, won by a score of 27-25 over CH and FC in their Nippon Paint Inter Club Rugby League match last weekend at the Race Course Rugby Stadium.
The winners led 17/8 at the time of the half way stage and for Kandy SC it was yet another bout of luck more than prowess as the score-line indicated that brought them victory.
Kandy can also breathe a sigh of relief that their main opponent Havelock SC are out of the way after suffering a second defeat, this time at the hands of Police SC last week.
Kandy as a champion side put up a pathetic performance and they should be considered lucky to pull it off in the end against the young CH and FC outfit that played their hearts out.
Winger Kavindu Perera, centre Tharinda Ratwatte, hooker Uchitha Jayasuriya and flanker Chathura Zoysa scored a try each for Kandy SC with Tharinda Ratwatte and fly half Nigel Ratwatte on target with one conversion apiece.
Meanwhile CH and FC flanker Yoshitha Rajapaksa and centre Ovin Hettiarachchi scored for the Maitland Crescent club while winger Hirusha Sampath was on target with two conversions and two penalties.
CH could also regret the fact that they had their chances of scoring more than they did as they were not willing to play second fiddle to the champs.
Police stun Havies 21-19
Police won a thrilling 21-19 victory over a dejected Havies team at Havelock Park after leading 14-12 at halftime rendering the quest for the title as a one-horse race with Kandy SC the clear favourite unbeaten from six matches.
Police from now on can only build up on their shock win and look ahead as they needed such a boost ahead of the second round and the subsequent knock-out championship.
All their opponents from now on need to buckle up harder or else face the consequences like Havelocks did.
Given the way they rallied to play as a team, Police have the firepower and the strategy not to be seen as underdogs anymore.
For Police, Number Eight Shanaka Harishchandra, fly half Yohan Peiris and prop forward Nisal Samadhi scored the tries and Yohan Peiris put over all three conversions.
For Havies full back Chanaka Chandimal, winger Randitha Warnapura and scrum half Vimukthi Rahula scored the three tries with fly half Sandesh Jayawickrema converting two.
CR struggle to beat Navy
Last week at Longden Place, the high-riding Red Shirts from CR and FC were extremely fortunate to defeat the young Navy SC team by a score of 33 to 27. At halftime the score was 12-8 in favor of Navy.
For the CR outfit prop forward Ashan Darling, full back Mursheed Doray, winger Gemunu Chethiya and fly half Thenuka Nanayakkara scored one try apiece with Nanayakkara and centre Chathura Seneviratne making two conversions.
Seneviratne also slotted in the three penalties for the winners.
Scrum half Hashan Maduranga, winger Dinesh de Silva, centre Lahiru Herath and flanker Nirosh Perera scored one try apiece and full back Thilina Wijesinghe put over one penalty and two conversions for the losing Navy outfit.
Air Force roll over Army
Last week, Air Force SC came from behind to defeat Army SC 27-19 at Panagoda as the former showed promising signs of improving further as the season moves on.
For Air Force Number Eight Saraka Weralla- 2, hooker Parakrama Ratnayake and Dharshana Dabare scored the tries while Isuru Medagedara converted two tries and slotted in a penalty as well.
For Army Kaveen Pereira, Lasantha Kumara and Mohammed Rifan crossed the line for tries while Isuru Madagedara slotted in the two conversions.