There are give matches down for decision this week as well, and with the inclement weather conditions, I think all we can hope for is 80 minutes of rugby in all of them. Fingers crossed.
On Friday, we have Air Force playing Police. The cops are ranked higher by virtue of their win over the Sharks and Air Force have been confronted so far with some very tough games early on. They will be happy to meet opposition of a similar standard, and given the aggressive approach they took against Havelocks in the first quarter of their last game, we can expect more of the same. There maybe some yellow cards in this game, and I hope it doesn’t get ugly, as both teams will be desperate for the win. Air Force at home, will be hard to beat.
There are a few games that maybe one sided. The Lions should decimate the Sharks up in Nawalapitiya. The UCL boys have been getting some R&R down south and they should be back rejuvenated after two straight losses. Minister Aluthgamage’s boys were holidaying on the beach, and should be raring to get back into the cooler climes of their home ground. With CR racking up 80 points last week, the Lions will be wanting to compete with that score for sure. Johann Fernando’s team from the deep south have been struggling and it’s pretty safe to assume they won’t get their first win this week, and they will be thankful for the points they had against Havelocks. Uale Mai has been installed as player coach, but unlike in sevens, you cannot work wonders in a few weeks.
Army also host CH in another Saturday game, and after the mauling they received last week, CH will be hoping to keep the score under 50 points if they can. They looked a hapless outfit, and it is really unfortunate that CH rugby has sunk to this level. It is purely an issue of not being able to attract good players, and it seems that the likes of Dilanka Wijesekera and Dinuk De S. Wijeratne were the Last of the Mohicans. CH captain, Nalin ‘Lechcha’ Kumara, like his counterpart at CR, Ishan Noor, have been injured and will be out for most of the season, and the two skippers will be frustrated watching from the sidelines.
The Army team will no doubt use this game to put right whatever went wrong in Nittawela. Expect a try fest, with their big centre Pera Gibbs being very direct and most probably being able to carve up the 10/12 channel defence of the CH lads.
The big match scheduled for Saturday is the late kick off under the new lights of Havelocks. Provided the lights come on, the game will be at 630pm. The Mathysz Trophy is always an important one for the two Clubs and the defending champs will want to retain it on their march towards the title.
CR are resurgent after their thrashing of rivals CH and despite not scoring a try in 160 minutes of rugby, put up 13 against CH, which skews their average at just over 4 tries a game so far. They’ll need exactly that to contain Havelocks, who have shown some defensive frailty. However, the Havies began their pre season training quite late, and will probably be looking to get better as the season goes on. They came back into the game nicely against Air Force last week and settled into their patterns well. The secret of this team is that they have some tremendous ball carriers. Herath and Dhabare come off their wings looking for work and they can inject pace into their attack at will.
CR will also have a problem at line out time, depending on the forward pack that they pick. They are hampered by not having a specialist two or four jumper in their regular line up and withe Shehan Pathiran on the other team, things could get hairy. CR will need to look to their dominant scrum to wear down the opposition and hopefully kick some points from any scrum penalties. There is a chance that this is the most competitive game we’ve seen so far in the league and hopefully refereeing won’t be an issue that is talked about.
CR’s team is still uncertain and with nearly 10 or 11 changes for last week’s game, it’ll be interesting to see who runs out for CR on Saturday. The Havelocks foreign players will present more of a challenge, and it will be also entertaining to see how Nissan Atui plays for CR against his former Club.
The block buster though is on Sunday, when the two genuine title contenders meet in Nittawela. Playing at home Kandy are always more difficult to beat than otherwise. But Navy this year have shown that they can score tries against everyone and the Lions game showed that they can also absorb pressure.
Navy have the luxury of a crack, balanced third row. With Dissanayake and Rajapakse on one flank, and Perera on the other they have the ball carrying ability as well as the speed. In Danushka Perera the have one of the best scavengers in the domestic game and Bilal Hassen is the best ball carrying forward in the country, and is not half bad at turning the ball over. Their mobility and power is going to be a problem for Andrew Porter, Sean Wijesinghe and whoever else plays on the flank. The Kandy back row is not as mobile and while they are good in the tight, will be found wanting in the loose.
This will only free up the back division where Navy have two foreigners. Cakau and Lutumailagi are powerful runners and guaranteed to break at least the first tackle. Kandy have never been happy defending, and this is a game where Fili’s running game and kicking game are going to be tested. Cakau and Lutumailagi are essentially sevens players. And while it is possible at their level to fit into a fifteens competition at short notice, it would be exciting to see Fili probing their positional sense and keeping them guessing on attack with a few grubbers for his flyers to run onto.
This is the sort of game that will test the mettle of coach Footie for Kandy. Nuwan Hettiarachchi is now in the blue jersey and will return to a ground he is familar with. Let’s see if Marija can underscore his status as the best back in Sri Lanka. Should be an absolute humdinger, and once again, the weather and refereeing shouldn’t be what we’re talking about afterwards.
