Kandy SC and CR & FC are the only unbeaten teams so far in the ongoing Dialog Rugby League tournament that will recommence next week after the Christmas and New Year break.
While Kandy SC has displayed power rugby to get over their opponents by big margins, CR have used their speedy back division to overcome their opponents so far and the two teams will clash in their first round match on January 4 (Saturday) at Longden Place.
Kandy’s forwards played a major role in their victories that took some time to come. They possess big-made forwards like Damith Dissanayake, Lasitha Attanagoda, Soyuru Anthony, Jason Dissanayake and number eight Buwanake Udangamuwa who used their huge frames to gain ground during their ploys. They also have an experienced and clever scrum-half in Srinath Sooriyabandara who can function cleverly from the base of the scrum.
Fly half Tharinda Ratwatte is also a very heady player who was seen making many breaks to give Kandy the advantage during their game against Police SC. He went through the openings offered to him on several circumstances and in turn he created the opportunities for the wingers to score. Winger Diluksha Dange planted two tries with openings created by Ratwatte. Dange scored three tries this season so far. Buddima Piyaratne the other winger also had a hand in scoring one try for Kandy SC. So far he is the leading try scorer in the tournament. He has scored four tries to collect 20 points for the team.
Centre Lavanga Perera was also a useful player and created the opportunities to score. He has scored two tries so far this season.
CR also rely very much on their back division to score the tries. Their forwards like skipper and number eight Omalka Gunaratne, Panduka Angammana, Ashan Fernando, Joel Perera and Gayan Dilshan are the burly forwards who used their weight to advantage during their mauls.
Their back division depends a lot on their intelligent play-maker Nigel Ratwatte who can guide their back division to apply pressure on their opponents. He also takes the conversions and has been quite successful so far.
Gemunu Chethiya, Reeza Rafideen, Chamodh Fernando and full back Rizah Mubarak have been successful at collected the points for the Red Shirts. In fact Mubarak is the leading points scorer so far with 48 which include 12 conversions and eight penalties.
Janidu Dilshan has also been a useful player for CR who has scored four tries so far to collect 20 points and be on par with Buddima Piyaratne of Kandy SC.
Unfortunately for Havelocks, they have lost one game against Police and have a long way to go if they have any chance to catch up on the other two leading teams Kandy SC and CR & FC. They are without any star players in the side who can command against any opponent. However, if they use all fifteen players to play as a unit they can create a few upsets this season and move up the points table.