Kandy SC continued their winning streak during the 06th week of the Nippon Paint Rugby League, when they met Navy SC, who were languishing at the bottom of the table without a single win. In a one-sided affair, the defending champions ran circles around the home team to register a 48-07 victory.
Kandy were in the forefront from the word go as they casually entered the Navy 22m territory without breaking a sweat. Although they missed two clear cut opportunities at first, in the third attempt, after receiving a scrum in the opposition half, the ball was worked towards the left and Nigel Ratwatte squeezed in between two defenders and then gave the pass out to Skipper Lavanga Perera, who managed to touch down for the first try. Tarinda Ratwatte converted the try without any hassle. (KSC 07 – 00 NSC)
Navy finally found themselves in the Kandy half after around 10 minutes from the kickoff, but Kandy quickly turned the tides in their favour and used their forwards to the maximum to cross over the try line for a second time in the game via Lasitha Attanagoda. The conversion was unsuccessful from Ratwatte, but things were looking very good for the visitors. (KSC 12 – 00 NSC)
Against the run of play, Navy found some attacking momentum out of nowhere, and some slick passing from left to right of the field opened space for fullback Amith Madushanka to find the whitewash. Isuru Kongahawatta converted the try to make it a 5-point game. (KSC 12 – 07 NSC)
The game got interesting for a few minutes, but it quickly went Kandy’s way once again when Dinal Ekanayake penetrated the Navy defence and made a strong run before giving the ball out to Nigel Ratwatte, who provided Danushka Ranjan with a quick offload out to score the try from the left corner. Once again, the conversion did not go over, but the lead was into double digits for the defending champs at Half Time. (KSC 17 – 07 NSC)
Half Time :- Kandy SC 17 – 07 Navy SC
After the Half Time break, Kandy found their stride rather quickly when they received a penalty, and a thunderous kick from T. Ratwatte took them inside the opposition territory. Kandy then went for a rolling maul and gained some good metres to go deep inside the Navy half. They received another penalty and went for the same option of kicking into touch and then the rolling maul, which paved the way for Heshan Silva to score the bonus point try for the visitors. T. Ratwatte converted the try as the lead grew for Kandy. (KSC 24 – 07 NSC)
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A few minutes later, Kandy produced the try of the match when T. Ratwatte found a break from the left of the field and gave the ball out to Kavindu Perera, who took the ball forward and passed it to his right, where Heshan Jansen made the collection and went all the way. T. Ratwatte was successful with the conversion once again. (KSC 31 – 07 NSC)
The visitors breached the Navy 22m territory once again very quickly, and although Navy managed to tackle one of the Kandy players into touch, a crooked throw from the line out meant Kandy had a scrum just 10 metres away from the try line. From the scrum, Kandy just had to work the ball to the right of the field where T. Ratwatte managed to reach out and put the ball down for another try. This time, they changed the place kicker as N. Ratwatte took the responsibility and added the 2 extra points. (KSC 38 – 07 NSC)
Navy defence was found wanting once again when Kandy made inroads into their half quickly, and this time they conceded a penalty from a scrum, with the defending champs deciding to go for points as T. Ratwatte kicked it through to take the score into the 40s. (KSC 41 – 07 NSC)
The last try of the game came via K. Perera for Kandy, when the ever so dangerous Srinath Sooriyabandara ran his way, evading defenders before they worked the ball out wide and found the whitewash. T. Ratwatte converted the try once again. (KSC 48 – 07 NSC)
Although Kandy scored 48 points, they had many more opportunities and were unlucky to not make a score in excess of 60. Navy SC were once again found wanting with their defence, and failed to do anything noticeable even in offence except for the only try. The defending champions will now face the other unbeaten side in the tournament CR & FC up at Nittawela, before the tournament heads into the Cup and Plate stages.
Tarinda Ratwatte was once again instrumental for the visitors making some good runs and scoring a try to go with all the points he collected with the kicking boots.
Full Time :- Kandy SC 48 (7T 5C 1P) beat Navy SC 07 (1T 1C)
Black Knight Player of the Match :- Tarinda Ratwatte (Kandy SC)
Points Breakdown
Kandy SC – Tarinda Ratwatte 1T 4C 1P, Nigel Ratwatte 1C, Kavindu Perera 1T, Heshan Jansen 1T, Heshan de Silva 1T, Lavanga Perera 1T, Lasitha Attanagoda 1T, Danushka Ranjan 1T
Navy SC – Amith Madushanka 1T, Isuru Kongahawaththa 1C
