HAVELOCK PARK, Colombo: (ePRESS) – Kandy Sports Club maintained their unbeaten streak in the MasterCard ‘A’ Division League with a dramatic come-from-behind win, defeating Havelock Sports Club 24-20 in a tense Week 4 encounter at Havelock Park yesterday. Trailing 20-10 at halftime, Kandy showed their strength to seize victory in the dying moments of the game.
The Hill Capital Club, who scored three tries and one penalty, rallied from behind in the second half to outscore Havelocks, who managed two tries and two penalties.
The match started with an early penalty by Havelock’s Samuel Maduwantha in the first minute, giving the home side a 3-0 lead. The game quickly turned in Kandy’s favour when Havelocks were reduced to 14 men after a sin bin. Capitalising on the numerical advantage, Kandy’s leading try scorer, Tarinda Ratwatte, touched down under the posts, and with his own conversion, Kandy led 7-3 by the 9th minute.
Havelocks responded swiftly. Jayathu Rajaratne, displaying impressive speed and agility, intercepted a pass from Kandy’s Shahid Zumry to sprint past defenders and score under the posts. Maduwantha’s conversion gave Havelocks the lead at 10-7 in the 17th minute.
Kandy’s hopes were revived through a penalty by Ratwatte in the 20th minute, narrowing the gap to 10-13. However, disaster struck for Kandy when Kavindu Perera was shown a red card for a high tackle on Havelocks’ Mohomd Rifan, leaving Kandy to play with 14 men for the rest of the game.
Despite the setback, Kandy’s resilience shone through. A further penalty by Maduwantha increased Havelocks’ lead to 13-7, but just as quickly, Kandy’s Ratwatte nailed a 30-metre penalty to bring the score to 10-13, still in favour of Havelocks.
The turning point came in the 40th minute. After a successful lineout, Havelocks’ former captain, Azmir Fajudeen, capitalized on a lovely offload and scored in the right corner. Maduwantha’s successful conversion saw Havelocks lead 20-10 at the break.
The second half began with Kandy adjusting to the absence of Ratwatte, who was replaced by Dhanushka Ranjan due to a shoulder injury. Despite missing a penalty kick by Shahid Zumry, Kandy found a glimmer of hope in the 58th minute when Akil Mohomed, with the help of Wajid Fawmy, powered through a driving maul to score in the right corner. A successful conversion by Nigel Ratwatte closed the gap to 17-20, with Kandy still trailing.
The game reached its crescendo in the final moments. Kandy winger Dinal Ekanayake, after receiving a pass from Nigel Ratwatte, touched down in the right corner. With a sensational conversion by Ratwatte, Kandy took the lead for the first time in the match, clinching a 24-20 victory, leaving the Havelocks stunned by the turnaround.
