Kandy should have it easy against Army

by S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr.

RUGBY: Defending champions Kandy Sports club should notch-up their third win for the season when they take on the Sri Lanka Army Sports Club in their Caltex Rugby League tournament match to be played at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy today (Sunday) with the kick-kick scheduled for 4.30 p.m.

Kandy Sports Club have won both the matches played so far by them against an all lose record by the soldiers which will make the hosts clear favourites in this match.

Kandy Sports Club will be led by flanker Buddhika Talagampola and they will go into this match without the services of several of their key players. But their larder is well stocked with talented youngsters who should make equally good replacements. They will be without Gayan Weeraratne, Sean Wijesinghe both in the injured list and the absence of official skipper Saliya Kumara and Keith Gurusinghe will be felt. Centre Chamara Withanage has been not seen at the practices while winger Anuruddha Willawara, Mohamed Rilvan, Mohammed Sheriff and Eranda Swarnatillake have moved to Colombo. Flanker Dilip Selvan may not turn out for them this season.

Kandy Sports Club in their long opener against Havelocks Sports Club scored a close 13-8 win and the following weekend they scored a comfortable 41-19 win over CH & FC. Both their opponents fielded two non-national players in their teams and this made the matches interesting and stopped the one way traffic by the stronger clubs witnessed the previous seasons.

In the match against CH and FC, Kandy's back division comprising Sanjeewa Jayasingha, Pradeep Liyanage, Gayan Weeraratne, Amila Bandara, Mohammed Jabbar, and Dinesh Kumara displayed a flair for running. Full back Nuwan Hettiarachchi too often joined the three quarters. Winger Mohammed Jabbar was in the fine form scoring three tries, one of them a 65-metre effort when he sliced through the opponents defence brushing aside tackles from at least six defenders before ending up near the left corner flag.

No, 8 Sajith Saranga too showed tremendous improvement when he scored two tries using power to breach the opponents defence. Stand off Fazil Marija fed his three quarters regularly with Prasad Chathuranga excelling from the base of the scrum.

Sri Lanka Army are reputed to be a set of doughty fighters with fitness as their forte. They have played two matches losing to Sri Lanka Navy 5-19 and to Havelocks SC 13-36. An improved performance against the reigning champions in this match should boost up their morals.