- Most competitive league in a decade with CR-Kandy at top
Sri Lanka’s Club Rugby in its century-old elegance has had many ups and downs in a journey where the oval ball game has reached many great heights in bringing people together. This week is arguably the most crucial week for any rugby fanatic in the island nation with defending champions Kandy Sports Club playing the Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club (CR&FC) at Longdon Place to decide on who will be the rightful owners of the prestigious league title. It has been the lads from the hill capital who for the past decade have continued their dominance with sublime performances.
It is evident that it has all come down to a two-horse race, with CR’s last win against Kandy at their Longdon Place home coming in 2010 under the current Head Coach of the Red Shirts Dushanth Lewke as skipper. However, they tasted one of the most glorious moments in their 101 years of rugby when they beat the Kandy team in the rivals own den up in the Nittawela Fortress in January this year at the Round-1 game. That win came after CR under Kishan Musafer last beat Kandy in 2001 (knockouts) and under Viraj Prasanna in 1996 (league) in the Nittawela.
By the analysis this year Kandy have actually performed better in their Colombo games compared to Kandy where many comeback wins were recorded in warm and humid conditions in the commercial capital. It is definite that all roads will lead to Longdon Place on Sunday (18) where crowds will flock to watch the grand finale of a lifetime.
Meanwhile, Police Sports Club led by Mohan Wimalarathne clinched the Plate Championship after securing their fifth win of the season beating Army at Panagoda in a three-try comeback effort which was pulled off in the last 10-minutes of the game while trailing 37-23. The cops were pretty unlucky to miss out on the top-4 seed trailing behind Havies. According to coaches Nilfer Ibrahim and Dulanjana Wijesinghe, the lads from Police Park will come back strong in the Knockout Championship with a bang.
Havelocks overtook CH at third place by having more bonus-points with both teams equal at 27-points even though CH having won one game more than Havies. The bonus point factor will be crucial in the Kandy-CR game as well.
Navy Sports Club who clinched their maiden league title in 2014 have been facing their most disastrous season in recent years, having failed to secure at least one win or a draw this time around. With many senior seasoned players leaving the club for greener pastures to other rivals clubs, the sailors were faced to put up with a young-inexperienced outfit led by Thilina Weerasinghe who suffered a major leg-injury mid season. Army under coach Shamlie Nawaz showed immense potential especially with individual brilliance through Sudaraka Dikkumbura, skipper Ashan Bandara, and Lasantha Kumara which is clearly evident through the number of tries and points they’ve scored. Air Force failed to live up to expectations and looks to improve more.
Kandy’s talisman Tarinda Ratwatte maintains his spot as highest points scorer with Thenuka Nanayakkara of CR who held the spot for the longest time period dropped to fourth place. Hirusha Sampath who was taken off the field last week against CR is at second and is unsure of further points scoring due to the heavy pain he was under. Hirantha Perera of Police and Lasindu Karunathilaka of CR sealed their place with 8-tries in the highest try scorers list as Hirantha made two tries against Army and Lasindu with a thumping performance of a hat-trick of tries against CH in the Maitland Derby at Racecourse.
