by Ranjeeva Seneviratne
Kandy Sports Club continued their dominance of club rugby in Sri
Lanka by retaining the Caltex ‘A’ Division League Rugby Title for a
record ninth successive year - a remarkable feat indeed.
 Their forwards gave a power-packed display to reign supreme in the
loose while the three quarters turned in a dazzling display of open
rugby which resulted in them crossing the opponents goal line on 62
occasions.
With no less than 12 national players in their ranks the lads from
Kandy scored six smashing wins over Navy (36-5), Air Force (27-6), Army
(30-9), CH and FC (30-3), Police (67-16) and Havelocks (73-12) before
overcoming arch rivals CR and FC by 22-16 in a close game.
They were off to a flying start in the second round games with two
resounding victories over Air Force (34-11) and CH and FC (31-10) before
suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Navy (11-12) but came back
storming to beat the Army 42-11 in their last outing.
Among the forwards No. 8 Sajith Saranga, flankers Dilip Selvam, Sean
Wijesinghe, lock forward Senaka Bandara and prop forward Kishore Jehan
stood out with a sterling display.
The three quarters too gave a marvellous display.
The halves combination of Saliya Kumara and Fazil Marija clicked
which resulted in centres skipper Pradeep Liyanage and Gayan Weeraratne
breaching the opponents defence time and again while winger Sanjeewa
Jayasinghe gave a fine display with his powerful runs down the flanks
with full back Radhika Hettiarachchi having the knack of joining the
line to form the overlap and was also a tower of strength in the last
line of defence with his safe collections and booming kicks to touch.
Their coach South African Johan Taylor took great pains to mould them
into a champion outfit and received all the assistance and encouragement
from Rugby Chairman Lasantha Wijesuriya.
Their performance is all the more creditable when considering the
fact that Kandy Sports Club is the only outstation club playing in the
‘A’ Division League tournament. |
