Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

CR fightback Decent Havies overcome ruthless Army

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players Damith Dissanayak­e and Jason Dissanayak­e being sent to the bin within the space of seven minutes in the third quarter.

CR stepped up pressure with skipper Omalka Gunaratne charging like a terrier in the loose to galvanise the forwards into action. Reeza Raffaideen did not have the pace when he stumbled on a loose ball but the momentum resulted in a try by prop Supun Warnakulas­uriya from a driving maul following a line out for an unconverte­d try in the 52nd minute.

CR were then awarded a penalty try in the 62nd minute by Hong Kong Jonathan Markowitz while the ball bounced right for centre Janidu Dilshan to touch down a high kick into the in-goal area by half back Kavindu de Costa for yet another unconverte­d try.

Fly half Nigel Ratwatte hared across on the left flank to score a superb corner flag try in the 70th minute as Kandy maintained their winning streak.

Havelocks SC dominated over Army SC 25-17 in a Dialog Rugby League match where each team scored three tries apiece, and depended heavily on the other to commit errors. The Havies travelled to the Naval Base in Welisara in which Army hosted the game, and made early inroads to take a lead of 10-0, but after battling for over 20 minutes.

The Soldiers retaliated promptly to trail 7-10 at halftime, as fullback and kicker Prince Chamara ended the day as the winning factor for the Havies. Chamara's boot contribute­d 10 points after successful­ly putting over two each of conversion­s and penalties, next to the three tries, scored by scored by three-quarters Asitha Punchihewa, Dilanka Perera and Zayan Jabbar.

The Soldiers performed splendidly to shackle the visitors, but they were not decent as the Havies, who refrained from conceding penalties to the opponent. But Army had the clout to penetrate the Havies defence thrice as they completed three tries, but just managed to convert one of them. The tries were scored by Sachin Gamage, Danushka Thalwattha and Thusitha Senanayake, as Gayan Salinda was successful only once in his three kicking attempts.

In addition Army were reduced to 14 men twice during the second half as Chameera Silva and Sudaraka Dikkumburu had to sit out briefly with yellow cards. The Havies were far decent, but Dilanka Perera was given the yellow card after the eventual winner had almost claimed the game with a 8- point lead.

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