Kandy S.C. should pile on points against Havies

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

RUGBY: The defending league champions Kandy Sports Club will begin their quest for yet another title when they take on the lowly placed Havelocks Sports Club in the quarter-finals of the Clifford Cup knock rugby tournament match to be played at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium in Kandy today with kick off at 4.30 p.m.

Kandy Sports Club are also the defending champions of the Caltex Clifford Cup which they have won since 1999, having the longest sequence of wins in the oldest rugby prize on offer.

They have also won the Clifford Cup the most number of times, though their rugby renaissance came as late as 1992, by a club which had been in the rugby scene for a long time with the expatriate planters in the plantations having introduced the game here.

Kandy Sports Club who won the league title for a record ninth year in succession will go all out to complete the double by winning the Clifford Cup for the 11th year in succession. Kandy Sports Club have created records both in the league and the knock outs which will take a very long time to emulate.

A win for Kandy in the match against Havelocks Sports Club will be a mere formality as the Park Club is going through a very lean season mainly due to exodus of ruggerites to the other clubs and retirement of players in the calibre of No. 8 Rajiv Ganapathy who had many years of rugby left in him.

Kandy Sports Club will go into this game without the services of full back Radhika Hettiarachchi, hooker Anuranga Walpola and centre Mohammed Sheriff who are all in the injured list and are being rested for the tougher matches ahead.

But there will be 'home coming' for winger Mohammed Jabbar and centre Chamara Withanage who have returned to the hill capital club after a short stint with CR and FC.

There is also rumour of a front row forward from a leading Colombo Club donning the Kandy jersey for the Clifford Cup matches. In the present scenario changing clubs is something like changing jersies during a match.

Gone are the days when ruggerites stuck to one club stemming from dedication and loyalty unless employment of transfer from the district compels them to change jersies.