The Soldiers travelled down to Havelock Park after their bye-week to play the unbeaten Havelock SC on the 27th of December 2025. Although this week was scheduled to be the New Year’s break, the games that were missed due to the floods were rescheduled for this week.
Havelock SC started the game off with fire. They came with a plan, and executed it well right from the get go. After a few well built phases of play, a gap opened up out-wide for Yehan Bulathsinghalage to go over for the first try. He was unable to convert his own kick. (Havelock SC 05 – 00 SL Army)
Scrums have been the talking point in SL Rugby for the past week, and Havelock SC showed that they had done their homework. Two consecutive scrum tries came the way of Chathura Dilshan from 5 meters out. Bulathsinghalage managed to convert both those tries to get the home team in a comfortable position. (Havelock SC 19 – 00 SL Army)
The Havelock SC forwards were not ready to take their foot off the pedal yet. This time, they set up a good rolling maul from 5 meters out. A well executed wheel opened up space for Hooker Azmir Fajudeen to score the bonus point winning try. This time, Bulathsinghalage was unable to hit his mark with the conversion. (Havelock SC 24 – 00 SL Army)
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It was only a matter of seconds until the Havelocks got their next try. A well weighted box kick from Mohamed Rifan caused confusion in the back three of Army as they coughed the ball up right into the hands of speedster Janidu Wijerathne, who sprinted 50m to score. Stephan Sivaraj took over the kicking duties but missed the 2 pointer. (Havelock SC 29 – 00 SL Army)
Army SC had their opportunities. They were dominant for around 5-10 minutes. The Havelocks were put on notice for a number of back-to-back infringements. However, the visitors were unable to capitalise and get any points on the board.
Despite being on the back foot, the Havelocks ended the first 40 minutes with arguably the try of the game. A first phase move from the back line opened up space for Jayathu Rajarathne, who evaded a few tackles and put an offload in for Yehan Bulathsinghlage to score just at the stroke of Half Time. Sivaraj added the extras.
Half Time – Havelock SC 34 (6T, 2C) vs SL Army 00
The second half started the same way the first half ended. Havelock SC were infringing at a very high rate. This opened the door for the SL Army attack, who finally broke through the Havelock defense as Vinod Kumar went over. Lahiru Rathnayake got the conversion through. (Havelock SC 34 – 07 SL Army)
The home team were reduced to 13 men at one point, with both Stephen Sivaraj and Azmir Fajudeen having been sent to the naughty chair for dangerous play.
Army went bang bang. The penalty count from Havelock SC kept on rising. A well set maul from the soldiers allowed Ijas Ahamed to go in for a try after a very strong pick and go. Conversation did not go through, but the momentum had well and truly shifted towards the visitors. (Havelock SC 34 – 12 SL Army)
SL Army enjoyed a majority of possession and territory in the second half; however, they were unable to convert that into points. The Havelock SC defense was holding up strong, as they snapped the ball up at maul time from the soldiers, and spread the ball to speedster Jayathu Rajarathne. It was a Rajarathne show from there on. The wing three-quarter showed immense speed and agility to dance around the Army defense before diving over for a well deserved try.
Full Time – Havelock SC 41 (7T, 2C) vs SL Army 12 (2T, 1C)
Points Breakdown
Havelock SC – Yehan Bulathsinghalage 14 Points (2T, 2C), Chathura Dilshan 10 Points (2T), Azmir Fajudeen 5 Points (1T), Janidu Wijeyarathne 5 Points (1T), Jayathu Rajarathne 5 Points (1T), Stephen Sivaraj 2 Points (1C)
SL Army – Vinod Kumar 5 Points (1T), Ijas Ahamed 5 Points (1T), Lahiru Rathnayake 2 Points (1C)
- Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match – Jayathu Rajarathne (Havelock SC)
