Havelocks in 21-10 win over Police

By Ranjeeva Seneviratne

RUGBY: Havelocks Sports Club withstood a fierce challenge in the second half by Sri Lanka Police to win by 21 points (3 goals) to 10 (1 goal, 1 penalty) in their Caltex 'A' Division League rugby match played at Police Park yesterday after leading 21-3 at the breather.

The Park club completely dominated play in the first half but the policemen fought back in the second half and made several threatening moves but some fine defensive work by Havelocks prevented the policemen from crossing their goal line.

It was the Havelocks forwards who paved the way for this victory. Flanker Ravi Jayasuriya had a marvellous game and was a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play. With Shafi Hassen, Kavinda Jayasena, Rajiv Ganapathy, Chathuranga Amarasinghe and skipper Rajiv Perera giving a sterling display the Havelocks 'eight' outplayed their counterparts in the loose.

They also won an abundance of possession with skipper Rajiv Perera getting the better of his vis-a-vis Asela Muthumala in the set scrums while in the line outs the Havelocks trio of Jayasuriya, Jayasena and Amerasinghe held sway. The Policemen opened scoring in the 4th minute of the first half when scrum half Sudesh Dissanayake fired across a 45 metre penalty.

Six minutes later off a second phase move in the Police '25' Havelocks scrum half Roshan Rajapakse set the three quarters in motion and winger Ruchira Ratnage put the finishing touches to the move by scoring by the right corner flag. Fly half Samantha Lakshan made a spectacular conversion to make it 7-3. In the 30th minute off a forwards rush in the Police '25' burly Havelocks lock forward Chaturanga Amarasinghe powered his way to touch down mid-left. Samantha Lakshan added the extra points to make it 14-3.

On the stroke of half time off a move begun to mid field Havelocks flanker Ravi Jayasuriya sped over 35 metres to fall over mid left for a glorious try. Samantha Lakshan converted and Havelocks led 21-3 at 'lemons'.

In the second half the Policemen came back storming and in the 20th minute off a five metre scrum No. 8 Mohamed Nizam broke away but was tackled by a Havelocks defender but managed to slip out a pass to prop forward Darshi Jayasinghe who barged through to score under the posts. Sudesh Dissanayake converted to make it 21-10.

Although Police had territorial advantage in the second half they were prevented from crossing the Park Club goal line due to some fierce tackling by Havelocks flanker Ravi Jayasuriya and No. 8 Rajiv Ganapathy.

Referee Dilroy Fernando.