Army pull off a thriller against Air Force

Army SC took sweet revenge as they pulled off a thrilling 21-15 win against Air Force SC in a Plate Segment game of the SLR Nippon Paint Club Rugby League at Panagoda yesterday. Having succumbed to a 14-17 defeat at the hands of Airmen, the Soldiers played rather professionally, preventing the visitors from dominating at their own backyard.

Army scored from a tally of three unconverted tries and two penalties, while holding on to a close 10-8 lead at halftime. Air Force, who were in awe during most part of the game, were able to score from two tries, a conversion and a penalty.

The game had to be stalled for longer durations than expected due to injury concerns and player safety, but the whole of the game was virtually under the belt of Army, despite the Airmen being able to squeeze in when the opportunity struck.

Fullback Thilina Pushpakumara struck first for Army, scoring an unconverted try in the 15th minute, before his opposite number Nadun Gunasekara put over a penalty in the 19th minute as the host led 5-3. With both sides seeking to override the other, the experience centre Sudaraka Dikkumbura took matters into his own hand to land Army’s second try in the 32nd minute, as they expanded the lead to 10-3.

But at the stroke of halftime, Air Force flyhalf Ishara Madushan stunned the Army defence with an unconverted try giving his team hopes of staging a bounceback after the resumption. Army led 10-8 by the halftime break.

But plans executed by Air Force were disallowed by the Soldiers, who struck back with a try from their skipper and flyhalf Ashan Bandara, who failed with the conversion, as Army expanded the lead to 15-8. With the game failing to produce any points during the next 15 minutes, Army were in a desperate rush to halt the Airmen, who were in their own 22. But the Soldiers lost their grip for a grasp, resulting in winger Darshana Dabare going over for a try for Air Force. With Gunasekara’s conversion the game was tied at 15-all, with merely 10 minutes on the clock.

But the Airmen failed to capitalize on the opportunity as they succumbed to the pressure caused by the Soldiers, who earned two vital penalties towards the end of the game. With fullback Chamath Fernando’s boots doing the needful, Army recorded a deserving 21-15 win by fulltime.