In a final week clash of the League stage (Plate Segment), the Police SC Rugby team soared to a dominating victory over a resilient Air Force SC side yesterday afternoon. The final whistle at the Rathmalana Air Force Grounds signalled a 36 – 12 dazzling victory for the Cops, capping off a match defined by bruising defence, tactical brilliance, and unrelenting energy.
The Air Force started the proceedings with a flat kick-off, and the Police replied with a straight clearance kick, though it was not able to find the touch. During the initial phase of the game, the sides shared the possession with a seven-a-side style of play with more wide passes accompanied by kicks and chases. A few minutes later, the Police initiated a brilliant attack with a magnificent 50:22 kick and continued the pressure after receiving a penalty for illegal entry during a maul. However, the Airmen did well to protect their tryline and to turn over the ball just before scoring.
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Then, the Police fiercely attacked into the deep of the Airmen’s territory with a maul, and later the hosts were penalised for the tackler not releasing the ball carrier at the deck. The play was followed by a solid lineout, but the Airmen did well to prevent the maul from advancing further. Hence, the visitors attacked with a pick-and-go passage, and all of a sudden, the big prop forward, Dhanushka Edirisuriya, barged his way over the whitewash to take the first blood of the game. (Police 05 – 00 Air Force)
After an interesting passage of play, the Police winger Viran Kodithuwakku made a fine break through the Air Force defence. After reaching the 22-metre line, though, he was dragged over the touchline, just before he managed to offload the ball, which hit the tackler’s body, resulting in a police throw at the lineout. Since then the Cops looked like an unstoppable force who inched towards the try line with power play by their forwards. After multiple phases, the Police SC Skipper, Shanaka Harishchandra, touched down by forcing off a couple of defenders. This time, the Police place kicker Yohan Pieris made no mistake with the conversation. (Police 12 – 00 Air Force)
The Airmen struck back immediately as Pramodya Padmasanka made a magnificent interception of the ball when the Cops were attacking after receiving the restart kick. During the course, the gigantic player did well to run all the way to score underneath the goalpost by avoiding the chasing Police winger Kaushlya Gunaweera by changing his running angles. Kaveesha Kaluarachchi did well to bisect the posts with the conversion kick. (Police 12 – 07 Air Force)
Later, the police received a penalty as the hosts failed to support their body weight at a ruck. It was followed by a five-metre lineout, and another penalty came in the way of Police as the Referee, Kelum Sandaruwan, spotted an illegal entry to a maul by the Airmen. After the next lineout throw, the hosts did well to prevent the driving maul, but the Police hooker Deshan Fernando managed to break away from behind, and by dragging three to four tacklers, managed to reach for the try line from the left corner. Then Yohan Pieris made a spectacular conversion from a difficult angle to extend the lead. (Police 19 – 07 Air Force)
A fierce tussle was staged thereafter, and the reunited Airmen took the upper hand during the play. The hosts applied tremendous pressure on the Cops’ defence line, and the Police gave away multiple penalties during the course for offside plays and tacklers failing to release the ball carrier. After receiving a five-metre line out, the Air Force attacked with a well-set rolling maul, and Manodya Bandara, who used the blind side, managed to plant a comeback try for the visitors from the right corner. (Police 19 – 12 Air Force)
At the brink of Half Time, the Cops were threatening around the red zone of the Air Force. Finally, they earned an advantageous attacking position with a five-metre scrum with their throwing. However, the Air Force forwards completed a rescue mission by turning over the ball just before walking off for the lemons after the short whistle.
Half Time: Police 19 (3 T, 2 C) – Air Force 12 (2 T, 1 C)
The Police fullback, Prince Chamara, started the proceeding of the second half with an excellent high-hanging kick, but Padmasanka did well to grab the possession for the Airmen. The visitors brought their fine rhythm right back into the game and kept troubling the Airmen with another fierce attack. As a result, the hosts lost their discipline in defence by conceding numerous penalties. Finally, replacement three-quarter Siluna Sadesh was spotted as the culprit after the Referee Sandaruwan lost his patience and issued a yellow card for an offside play under repeated infringement. To capitalise on the numerical advantage, the Cops opted for a scrum just in front of the goalposts. After a solid scrum, the ball was handed to the backs, and centre Vihanga Pivithuru spotted a small gap in defence and speared it to plant the bonus point try, though the defenders managed to hold on to him. Surprisingly the man on song, Chathuranga, missed the regulation conversion kick. (Police 24 – 12 Air Force)
The Airmen made a mess with their restart kick, resulting in a scrum at the centre. After a No. 08 break, the Police three quarters displayed a marvellous play by bringing the play back into the Air Force try line. Then, the Cops raided around the whitewash with multiple pick and drive moves. Suddenly, they spotted an overlap to the left corner and switched the ball to backs. With having to open players to the wide, Yohan Pieris made a surprising move by driving onto the last couple of defenders without offloading the ball to unmarked supporting players. However, he was lucky enough to ground the fifth try for the cops, though it looked as if it was held up from the first sight. (Police 29 – 12 Air Force)
Later, the Cops won a lineout inside the 22-metre line of the Airmen’s territory, and the hosts did well to stop the driving maul. Then, the Police marched by inch and inch towards the whitewash with a pick and drive passage of play. While the focus centred on the forwards, the replacement scrum half, Yuusuf Adeeb, made an intelligent move by switching the ball to the three-quarters. Then, Yohan Pieris covered the tackler and gave a quick and short pass to Kaliova Mocetadra, who pushed off a couple of tacklers and dragged another one to score a magnificent try, which was a testimony to the unmatched power of the Fijian. Again, Yohan Pieris made no mistake with the conversion. (Police 36 – 12 Air Force)
With that try, the game went beyond the reach of the hosts, but the Airmen still tried hard to get a consolation try and to earn some respect despite being beaten in their own backyard. But the Butterfingers cost them the opportunity after doing all the hard work and reaching near the whitewash. A few minutes later the Referee Sandaruwan reduced the cops to 14 men and issued a yellow card to Deshan Fernando for using abusive language.
During the dying seconds of the game, the Airmen launched another fine attack with a rolling maul after receiving a five-metre lineout. However, the spirited Cops never let the hosts blur their dazzling victory and managed to block the driving maul with a wall-like defence. Hence, the Referee blew the long whistle by handing a tremendous victory to the Police SC.
Full Time: Police Sports Club 36 (6 T, 3 C) – Air Force Sports Club 12 (2 T, 1 C)
Swisstek Player of the Match – Yohan Pieris (Police SC)
Points Breakdown
Police Sports Club – 36
Shanaka Harishchandra 1 T, Dhanushka Edirisuriya 1 T, Kaliova Mecetadra 1 T, Vihanga Pivithuru 1 T, Deshan Fernando1 T, Yohan Peiris 1 T, 3 C,
Air Force Sports Club – 12
Pramodya Padmasanka 1 T, Manodya Bandara 1 T, Kaveesha Kaluarachchi 1 C
, the Police SC Rugby team soared to a dominating victory over a resilient Air Force SC side yesterday afternoon. The final whistle at the Rathmalana Air Force Grounds signalled a 36 - 12 dazzling victory for the Cops, capping off a match defined by bruising defence, tactical brilliance, and unrelenting energy.){kind=link}