Kandy Sports Club faced Navy Sports Club at the Navy Base in Welisara for a Week-2 fixture of the Maliban Inter Club Rugby League 2025/26, where the visitors triumphed with a 44-14 victory.
The game started off with a bang for the visitors. They managed a majority of the possession in the early stages and went over for the first score of the game through Gayan Perera. Hirusha Sampath missed the corner flag conversion, however Kandy took the early lead. (Kandy S.C. 05 -00 Navy S.C.)
Navy seemed to find their groove after the try. A huge thump down the field from Thilina Weerasinghe got them onto the correct part of the field. For around 10 minutes Navy had the ball, but they just couldn’t close out the moves that they started. They had to come back with no points to show even though they were in control of the ball.
After a few phases of continuous infringements at the breakdown, Navy gave away a penalty to Kandy which opened the door for Hirusha Sampath to knock over 3 more points for Kandy. (Kandy S.C. 08 -00 Navy S.C.)
A well orchestrated 8-9-14 move from Kandy off a scrum got them their next try. Kavindu Perera dotted the ball down for Kandy’s 2nd. Sampath added the extras to extend Kandy’s lead. (Kandy S.C. 15-00 Navy S.C.)
The game started to lose it’s momentum for a while as errors started to creep in. Both teams had possession but couldn’t reap the benefits off of it.
Half Time – Kandy S.C. 15 (2T,1C,1P) vs 00 Navy S.C.
At the turn of the half it was Kandy who went over first. A big moment of magic from Srinath Sooriyabandara off a messy lineout paved the way for the score, as he outpaced the first and second lines of defense of the sailors. (Kandy S.C. 20-00 Navy S.C.)
Navy had to hit back, and hit back fast. Koojana Kulathunge took a quick tap and sniped through the Kandy defense to get Navy their first score. Kongahawatte added the 2 points to break the duck for Navy. (Kandy S.C. 20-07 Navy S.C.)
It was the Kandy forwards who struck next. The Kandy tight 5 were instrumental in this score, but the rampant Kandy maul was too much for the Navy defense to handle as Dahan Wickramaarachchi scored a try. (Kandy S.C. 25-07 Navy S.C.)
But Navy got one back. They were always going to create something through their forwards. Some fantastic work from the Captain Apoorva Wijesinghe opened the door for Roshan Sanjeewa to go over. Kongahawatta added the extras. (Kandy S.C. 25-14 Navy S.C.)
From here on it was all Kandy. Navy just didn’t have the finishes to bring the game home. Sooriyabandara injected some life into the game with some crisp running lines, which put Gayan Perera in space in the corner. Asiri Seneviratne could not get the conversion through. (Kandy S.C. 30-14 Navy S.C.)
Kandy’s scrum was unstoppable. Wajid Fawmy playing at 8, picked the ball up and broke off the back of a scrum that was travelling forward at rapid pace, to score another try for Kandy. Rivin Baudween added the 2 and got his first points in Kandy Colours. (Kandy S.C. 37-14 Navy S.C.)
The icing on top of the cake was the last try. Thilina Bandara had the final say after busting a few tackles after a well set maul. Baudween added the extras. (Kandy S.C. 44-14 Navy S.C.)
A well planned out second half from Kandy, got them a big win in their first outing of the season.
Full Time – Kandy S.C. 44 (7T, 3C, 1P) vs Navy S.C. 14 (2T, 2C)
- Swisstek Perfect Player of the Match – Srinath Sooriyabandara
It was only a matter of time until Kandy
