Kandy wins Record 18th Clifford Cup

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Category: Caltex Club Rugby

Published on Saturday, 17 September 2011 21:05

Written by T.B. Joshua

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Kandy Sports club earlier today won the Clifford Cup Knockout tournament for a record 18th time. The Knadians came into this final as the favorites having won the league tournament a few weeks back. Kandy SC played the power pact Navy SC side who gave Kandy an amazing fight taking them to the ultimate test.

Half time score: 17-03 Kandy leading

Full time score: 17-16 Kandy SC win

Kandy SC was led on by the senior second row forward Senaka Bandara who has been with the club for many years now. On the other hand Navy SC was led by the spirited Yoshitha Rajapakse. The game kicked off at the Royal College sports complex today after the two teams were introduced to the chief guest the First lady Mrs. Shiranthi Rajapakse.

Kandy SC took an early lead after Dhanushka Perera was penalized for playing the ball off his feet and Roshan Weeraratne who has been pin point accurate for the defending champs put over the kick with ease. Dev Anand who is in the Navy lineup mainly for his kicking then was given an opportunity to slot over a fairly hard penalty from the corner of the 22m line. The senior number 10 obliged his captain by slotting over the 3 points to level the score.

Kandy held majority of the possession from this point on in the first half. They also maintained their attack by continuously camping inside Navy territory. They were finally rewarded when Abdul Jabbar scored the 1st try of the final after collecting a magical inside pass off Roshan Weeraratne. Weeraratne added the extra points from the far corner.

Minutes later Kandy were on the scoreboard again when Faazil Marija charged down his former teammate Eranga Weerakkody’s clearance kick and collected the ball and scored under the post. Roshan Weerarathne then put over the simple conversion which took the defending Champions into half time with a 14 point lead.

The second half was completely in favor of the Sailors who looked revitalized after coach Ronny Ibrahim had a chat with them. Navy were continuously threatening in attack and were rewarded when Dev Anand put over another two penalties to take the score to 17-09.

Just as everybody believed Navy were out of the game the Sailors fought hard and took the game to the Kandians and scored trough their quick stepping half back Suranga Pushpakumara with just 4 minutes left. Anand put over the extra points and gave the eventual winners a very nervy final few minutes.

Navy SC fought hard to eventually lose out to the most dominant team of Sri Lankan rugby history Kandy SC. This game also saw the end of the very illustrious career of legendary winger Sanjeewa Jayasinghe who made an appearance in the last few minutes of the game and was carried off the field on the shoulders of his team mates.

 

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