Kandy SC who are known to come up with a strong finish after excelling in the second half romped home winners by defeating Air Force by 30 points (5 tries, 1 conversion, 1 penalty) to 13 points (1 try, 1 conversion, 1 penalty) in their Nippon Paint Premier League rugby encounter played at Ratmalana yesterday.
After having scored only one try in the first half, Kandy SC played attacking rugby in the second half to score four more tries, to pile on the points that made it difficult for the Airmen to catch up on.
Kandy SC were trailing 5-6 at the turn around and got back in the 47th minute of the second half through a try by Tharindu Chathuranga who put the finishing touches to a rolling maul.
They scored again after a long lapse of time through a try by Suranga Kasun in the 60th minute.
Kasun scored again in ten minutes later to make it 20-6 with a bonus point.
Asiri Seneviratne put over a penalty four minutes later to give Kandy SC 23 points.
They scored again through a try by Tharundu Chathuranga, his second in the match and the try was converted by Asiri Seneviratne that gave Kandy SC a comfortable lead at that point.
Air Force stormed back in the dying minutes and scored a try through Sadalu Mandew that was converted by Nadun Gunasekera to give them the 13 points at the end.
The first half saw Air Force keep possession most of the time and managed to score twice off two penalties as the Kandy defence was very tight and tackled the Airmen to a standstill.
Air Force scored first through a penalty in the 14th minute for an infringement and Gayantha Iddamalgoda kicked right from 20 metres out.
However, Kandy found their fortunes coming their way four minutes later, when the Air Force three-quarters moved the ball around and Kandy’s fly half Lakshitha Ranaweera intercepted and ran about 50 metres unchallenged to touch down.
Kandy’s skipper Lavanga Perera was shown the yellow card minutes later for a high tackle.
Hasantha Weeranga refereed.
