• Bench of Nittawela juggernaut to the fore

Kandy SC regained the league title with a game to spare when they cruised to a convincing 39-20 win over a disjointed CR and FC in their Mastercard Inter-Club Rugby second-round Cup segment match at Nittawela yesterday (9).

The home team suffered decisive injuries to open side flanker Wewala Panditha and blind side flanker Chathuranga Kudalige in the first-half but scrum-half Heshan Jansen controlled the game expertly to give go-forward ball to his men.

Kandy coach Fazil Marija even substituted potent centre Dhanushka Ranjan with Isipathana ace Shahid Zumri at one stage and the hosts bench consisting of a few unsung heroes made the difference in the end.

The Kandy replacements such as Kenula Hettiarachchi, Akil Mohammad, Nalan Premnath, Wajid Faumy and Diluksha Dange impressed, while their more established seniors played well within themselves to outsmart their rivals from Longden Place.

CR too were dealt with a spate of injuries including flanker Adeesha Weeratunga in the first-half and critically the sin-binning of prop Senura Perera midway through the second-half, put paid to their chances of taking the fight to their hosts.

Kandy scored from five tries of which four were converted and two penalties, with inside centre Tharinda Ratwatte contributing 14 points through four conversions and two penalty goals, as they remained unbeaten heading into the final week.

CR responded with two converted tries and two penalties and though for a brief period they threatened to mount a challenge, it ultimately fizzled out as the home side controlled the proceedings through cohesive rugby.

For the soon-to-be declared champions who led 22-13 at half-time, left-wing Dinal Ekanayake scored two tries while lock Chathuranga Soyza, prop Milan Weerasinghe and substitute forward Kenula Hettiarachchi also crossed over.

For the red shirts’ hard-working flanker Omalka Gunaratne collected a brace, while full back Mursheed Dorai converted both tries and nailed two penalties.

CR did well midway through the first-half to run Kandy close, but once the latter got into their stride, they were out of sight and with it the league title was decided, with next week’s Cup segment tie between KSC and Havelocks at the same venue being of only academic interest.

For the men from the hills lock Soyza, prop Weerasinghe and left-wing Ekanayake dotted down respectively in the first-half, with Ratwatte adding the extras to two of those tries and firing a penalty.

After the turn around, Kandy increased the tempo to dump two converted tries via Hettiarachchi and Ekanayake respectively, with Ratwatte converting both, besides nailing a penalty, as they atoned for last season’s home loss to their opponents.

For the red shirts flanker Gunaratne scored in either half with Dorai converting both those tries and booting two penalties, but they were no match to the rampant champions of the day.