Havelock Sports Club secured a crucial victory to keep their unbeaten tag intact, overcoming a spirited Air Force Sports Club 20 – 05 in the third-week clash of the Maliban Inter-Club ‘A’ Division Rugby League 2025/26, held at the Havelock Rugby Grounds. With this defeat, the table toppers Air Force SC suffered a major blow to their title hopes.
The hosts made a good kickoff while the Air Force receiver misjudged the collection by offering an immediate lineout to the hosts. But the hosts were unable to capitalise on the early advantage into points, as the ball had been knocked on in the first phase of play after the lineout. After the scrum, though Air Force got out of jail with a good clearance kick, the Pink Army executed a brilliant counterattack. During the defence, an Air Force foreign player went to turnover the ball but was penalised for not releasing the tackled player. Hence, Samuel Maduwantha gave the hosts a 5-metre lineout, which was followed by a rolling maul. Airmen brought the threatening maul legally, but the ball was switched to the three-quarters and sent outside. It wasn’t long before Janidu Wijerathna made justification for the initial good work done by the forwards by crossing the whitewash for the first try of the game. (HSC 05 – 00 AF)
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After some time, the Airmen settled down and launched their first real attack of the day after the ex-skipper Iddamalgoda stole the ball from the hosts. During the attack the Havies went offside and gave away a kickable penalty. The Airmen opted for points from a friendly angle, but Iddamalgoda’s kick went astray. Later the Air Force earned a 5-metre lineout in favour of them, but they weren’t able to turn it into points due to a silly obstruction play.
A few moments later, Havies took the upper hand and applied massive pressure on the airmen. Though Air Force Eagles looked to apply counter pressure on the hosts, they were penalised for using hands in the ruck. The reliable place kicker of Havelock Sports Club, Madhuwantha, made no mistake with the kick and extended the lead. (HSC 08 – 00 AF)
During the dying stages of the first half, three-quarters of the hosts did exceptional work to break the defence and advanced deep into Air Force territory. Then Havelock’s forwards displayed solid teamwork with a series of effective pick-and-drives. Finally, the big prop forward, Abdulla Faiz, barged his way for a try by bouncing off from a missed tackle. Surprisingly Madhuwantha missed a regulation conversion kick. (HSC 13 – 00 AF)
The teams went out of the ground for the lemons, and the hosts had the happier camp, as they managed to build a solid lead without conceding any points.
Half Time: Havelocks SC 13 (2 T, 1 P) – Air Force SC 0
Iddamalgoda started the proceedings in the second half with a high hanging kick-off, and Havies had a disastrous restart with a knock-on. Later airmen attacked twice in quick succession, but they failed to provide the finishing touch. Then things went from bad to worse for the Airmen as the lock forward Maleesha Weerakoon was sent to the sin bin due to a high tackle.
But with that blow, the Air Force decided to rise out of the ashes and kept asking some serious questions from the Havelocks defence. Then Havelocks gave away a silly penalty by deliberately falling onto a player on the ground in a dangerous manner. After an excellent pick-and-go passage, the Airmen crossed the try line courtesy of Nisal Asalanka for the first time in the game. But the referee, Raveen Alexander, wasn’t sure about the grounding. Hence, the try was awarded after consulting TMO. But Iddamalgoda again missed another regulation kick by losing an opportunity to cut the deficit to a single score. (HSC 13 – 05 AF)
Later the Air Force had a couple of chances to score as the Havies displayed some ill discipline in the defence and gave away some easy penalties. But yet again they failed to convert their good effort into points as a few unnecessary errors were mounting behind them. But finally the Airmen opted to go for points after they received a penalty for a line offside. The reliable place kicker of Air Force Iddamalgoda proved again that he forgot to bring his kicking boots by missing another regulation kick.
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With these series of mistakes by the visitors, the hosts reunited as a group and attacked deep into the Air Force territory with a positive mindset. When there was a penalty advantage in favour of the hosts, Maduwantha went for a little chip-kick. Eventually the ball hit on the block, but the former Thomian skipper Yehan Buathsinghelage did well to collect the ball and also to avoid the tackle and managed to plant an under-the-post try. Maduwantha put a cherry on top of his initial good work by nailing the conversion. (HSC 20-05 AF)
During the dying stage of the game, Havies attacked into Air Force territory to end the game with another score. Then, Air Force conceded another penalty for a high tackle inside the 22-metre area of the visitors. Havelocks opted for a scrum with the aim of creating more gaps and executing their plan; the ball was sent wide of the pitch. Dilsara Kodagoda made a diving attempt to plant the ball in the field of play, but the referee, Raveen Alexander, consulted again with the TMO. This was an anticlimax, not from the context of the game but from the Havelocks’ journey in the tournament, as a try will earn them a valuable bonus point. But the replay showed that the winger landed on the touchline before grounding the ball, and the referee blew the long whistle.
With this remarkable victory Havelocks managed to keep their hopes of the title alive after their shocking tie against Navy SC during the league opener. Both the sides fielded the foreign players, but importantly, local players were able to keep those powerful players at bay throughout the game.
Full Time: Havelocks SC 20 (3 T, 1 C, 1 P) – Air Force SC 05 (1 P)
- Swisstek Player of the Match: Dilshara Kodagoda (Havelocks SC)
Points Breakdown
Havelocks SC 20
Janidu Wijerathna 1 T, Yehan Buathsinghelage 1 T, Abdulla Faiz 1 T, Samuel Madhuwantha 1 P 1 C,
Air Force SC 05
Nisal Asalanka 1 T
