Another weekend blockbuster of the Maliban Inter-Club Rugby League 2025/26 was staged as CH & FC took on their arch-rivals Havelock Sports Club at the Havelock Grounds in Colombo. By shattering all the predictions of a nail-biting battle, the Pink Army, who were brilliant in both attack and defence, posted a comfortable 39–05 victory by widely opening up the league title.
The Havelocks fly-half, Samuel Maduwantha, initiated the action with a short kick-off, but his calculations went wrong as the ball didn’t travel the 10-metre line. A centre scrum was followed, and CH straightaway put the Havelock three quarters under pressure with a deep kick right into the 22-metre area. However, after securing the position, Maduwantha made a good clearance kick to put his team out of jail.
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A few minutes later, CH had a penalty as a Havelock player was penalised for not rolling away after a tackle. Though the visitors decided to put some early points on the board, the kick went astray. The play resumed with a 22-metre drop-out, and the receiver Janith Chandimal booted the ball as he wasn’t in a position to catch it in full. But unluckily, the counter kick went straight into the hands of charging Sudesh Jayawickrama, and he quickly ran into a gap by covering a couple of defenders. In the meantime, he had a nippy pass to the blistering winger, Jayathu Rajarathna, who went all the way to score the maiden try of the game. (HSC 05 – 00 CH & FC)
After some fierce play, Havelocks received a penalty just before the 10-metre mark as the flanker of CH & FC left the scrum early without binding. Kicking star of Havelocks, Maduwantha bisected the posts with the 45-metre-long kick without any trouble, demonstrating his true potential. (HSC 08 – 00 CH & FC)
Then the hosts were untidy with the restart kick, and they were penalised for tackling an opponent who didn’t have possession of the ball. Later, CH attacked with a brilliant maul and crossed the try line. However after consulting the TMO, the Referee stood with his initial decision of held-up. The play resumed with a 5-metre scrum, and once again the Havelocks gave away another penalty for lifting players. Instantly, a quick tap was taken, and the Havelocks lost their star player Janidu Fernando as he was yellow carded for not retreating at the penalty. Intelligently, CH took maximum out of the numerical advantage and sent the ball wide, and Janith Chandimal ran through the defence to score a comeback try for the visitors. Surprisingly, the try scorer, Chandimal, missed a regulation conversion kick. (HSC 08 – 05 CH & FC)
With the morale-boosting try, CH looked to revamp their attack, but the progress was hindered as Lahiru Thilakarathna (CH) was yellow carded by the Referee, Ishanka Abeykoon, by equalising the numbers on the field. In contrast, the hosts looked more threatening in the next passage of the play, and they knocked on the door for another try on a few occasions. Finally, the Havelocks received a penalty for an offside play of the visitors, but Madhuwantha once again failed to find the right angle by begging for another opportunity.
Later, the Havelocks launched another dazzling attack with a clinical play. After crossing the 22-metre line, the heavy forwards of the hosts took the duty into their hands and initiated a superb pick-and-go phase without giving any breathing space to the CH & FC defence. When the focus was on the forwards’ tussle, ball was switched to Havelock’s three-quarters who worked the ball, and Yehan Bulathsinghalage crossed the try line from the right corner. (HSC 13 – 05 CH & FC)
The final 10 minutes of the first half saw an exhilarating fight, but neither team managed to score until the short whistle. While the teams went for the lemons, the hosts had the happier camp, as they managed to build an interesting lead by conceding a solitary try.
Half Time: Havelocks SC 13 (2 T, 1 P) – CH & FC 05 (1 T)
CH made the kick-off in the second half and the Havelocks replied with a misjudged box kick by offering an early advantage to the visitors. Later the hosts recovered after their initial mistakes and looked more settled, with fine attacks and solid defence. After five minutes of play, the Havies struck back with a stunning rolling maul and made good territory. Then the CH fly-half Absal Mohommed was sin-binned for a high tackle on his opposite number, Maduwantha. Afterwards, the Havies opted for points, but Maduwantha seemed to have forgotten his kicking boots, as he missed another regulation chance by wasting another penalty.
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Later the Havelocks received a lineout inside their opposition’s 22-metre mark after the CH fullback made a mess with the kicked ball. After securing the possession during the lineout throw, the Havelocks initiated the maul of the match with eye-catching stuff and bulldozed their way to cross the tryline for the first blood in the second half. This time, Maduwantha nailed the most difficult opportunity that he had in the evening to add the extras. (HSC 20 – 05 CH & FC)
A few minutes later, CH took possession and attacked from inside of their own half. Suddenly Randy Silva made a misjudged backhand pass towards the Skipper Janidu Dilshan, but the ball landed in the hands of the defending player, Jayathu Rajarathna, who ran all the way to score his second try of the evening. All of a sudden, Maduwantha displayed that he had regained his rhythm with another successful conversion. (HSC 27 – 05 CH & FC)
Later, Jayathu Rajarathne initiated another scoring opportunity after catching the CH Skipper Janidu for not releasing the ball. With that penalty, the Havelocks advanced deep into CH territory, giving a headache to the CH defence line. After a few phases of play, the ball worked from right to left. Meantime, the brother of injured Skipper Sudesh Jayawickrama made a brilliant long cut-out pass to Janidu Wijerathne, who penetrated through the defence and dived over at the whitewash from right corner to seal another try. (HSC 34 – 05 CH & FC)
A few minutes later, the Havelocks put a cherry on their victory through an excellent backline move by scoring their 6th try of the game. They had a scrum inside the opponents’ half, and the fly-half Maduwantha and inside centre Jayawickrama executed a copybook scissor pass by completely deceiving the Fijian centre Koli Tomanikalu. Then Jayawickrama, in a timely manner, switched the ball to substitution half-back Rifan Mohommed, who finally made an impact on the game by sprinting some good yards and scoring a try with a spectacular dive. Then Yehan Bulathsinghalage took the kicking duties and nailed the straightforward conversion. (HSC 39 – 05 CH & FC)
When the game was in the bag of the hosts, CH was desperate for another try and tried their best to end the game on a high. Though the Maitland Crescent lads had a few opportunities during the final minutes of play, the Havelocks’ defence looked rock solid and prevented the visitors from scoring until the long whistle.
With this remarkable victory, the Havelocks managed to keep their hopes of the title alive after their shocking defeat against CR & FC, a week ago. During the crucial encounter, both sides fielded the foreign players, but most importantly, the local players were able to keep those highly technical and strong heavyweight players at bay throughout the game.
Full Time: Havelocks SC 39 (6 T, 3 C, 1 P) – CH & FC 05 (1 T)
- Swisstek Player of the Match: Udesh Madushanka (Havelocks SC)
Points Breakdown
Havelocks SC – 39
Jayathu Rajarathna 2 T, Yehan Buathsinghelage 1 T 1 C, Azmeer Fajudeen 1 T, Janindu Wijerathne 1 T, Mohommed Rifan 1 T, Samuel Madhuwantha 1 P 2 C,
CH & FC – 05
Janith Chandimal 1 T
