Defending league champions Kandy Sports Club successfully cleared another hurdle with their fifth win of the season when they beat CR&FC 28-12 on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was horrible weather conditions at Longden Place. Under the rain, rugby almost becomes a different sport. You can’t play with hands. The ball is greasy. Hanging on to that ball is very difficult. Coming out of the rucks and scrums the ball slips. So, everything in the game was different. It was nice to see CR & FC president Sriyan Cooray giving a big hand to the two teams along with committee members like former Trinity College hooker Janindha Dunuwille, prop forward Hamza Hassanally, Gayan Amarasinghe, Jak Daisz, Mano Jayaranjan and Ashan Ratwatte, a former Trinity College and Kandy SC captain.
On a wet and windy afternoon, out of the five games, this game was a little hard for the winners, they had to be happy with a one goal one try to a try at half time. This was due to the weather taking the upper hand of the game. Full credit to both sets of players who provided an enjoyable competitive game and stuck to their task despite the weather.
Though CR & FC lost there were some positives in their defence, they stopped the strong Kandy SC from scoring more than four tries. It was a big improvement since the last game for CR & FC they were close, but lacked the knowledge. It cost them momentum. There were a lot of positives, some of the loose play was good and they played some positive stuff, they really concentrated themselves.
Whatever said and done Kandy SC showed their commitment to a game plan. It was a case of pressure and defense combined with on-point tackling. If you bring the pressure and you don’t tackle well, a shifty fly half or a hard-charging center can beat you, badly.
But with pressure and accurate tackling, you can nullify a dangerous backline, that is what Kandy SC did.
After looking somewhat shaky in the first quarter of the game Kandy turned things around in startling fashion to finish as winners.
They started on the front foot and were able to maintain their defensive shape, despite a couple of early missed tackles. The CR & FC side tried to exert some physical superiority as it bashed toward the line for several minutes. Kandy with their knowledge worked their backs to lead 12-5 at halftime.
The second half began with heavy shower and Kandy ran sideways and then straight ahead to collect12 points. With the wet conditions Kandy closed out the game by playing a patient game.
This was a memorable win for Kandy against quality opposition. They move onto the next game with great optimism on Saturday the 9th when they host Navy SC at 3.45 pm.
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