- Kandy silenced
- CR last beat Kandy at Nittawela in 2001 under Kishan Musafer
In a historic day for club rugby in Sri Lanka, CR&FC beat Kandy Sports Club 38-26 at Nittawela yesterday (21) to break a 23-year-long wait to beat the undisputed defending champs at their home fortress in a match of a lifetime.
It was way back in 2001 that CR&FC, under talismanic skipper Kishan Musafer, beat mighty Kandy under Nalaka Weerakkody at Nittawela. CR’s last win in any format against Kandy came in 2010 under current Head Coach Dushanth Lewke’s captaincy.
It was a big day for CR skipper Suhiru Anthony as he returned to his former club venue Nittawela, where he spent six championship-winning years.
Friends, families, partners, and die-hard fans flocked to the Nittawela fortress on a Sunday evening that will be remembered for many historic reasons.
The fastest in the league and probably one of the fastest tries in club rugby history was scored by CR’s Manilka Ruberu just 11 seconds into kickoff, to go under the posts to give Thenuka Nanayakkara conversion. Later, playmaker Tarinda Ratwatte went under the posts in the 20th minute (CR 7-7 KSC).
Later still, Adeesha Weerathunge touching down for CR and Kavindu de Costa in the 35th minute with individual brilliance scored one of the best tries seen in ages to score under the posts, with Nanayakkara making no mistake with the kick to go up 19-7.
As the game got tense, a few plastic bottles were thrown at the field by one or two unruly fans. However, senior hometown players of the likes of skipper Lavanga Perera and former skipper Nigel Ratwatte calmed the tense situation by settling down the heated atmosphere spreading amongst the die-hard fans of Kandy.
Deputy skipper Gemunu Chethiya shell shocked the Nittawela crowd as he went over for the bonus-point try to go into lemons with a shocker of a 19-point lead.
Halftime – CR&FC 26-07 Kandy SC
Chathuranga Kudalige Nigel Ratwatte scored for Kandy within five minutes into the second half as Nittawela erupted in joy (CR 26-21 KSC).
It was just Kandy, Kandy all the way in the opening 25 minutes of the second half, putting marauding pressure upon the visitors.
However, in an inspirational last-gasp effort, Adeesha Weerathunge and youngster Kushan Tharindu hit the nail in the coffin with back-to-back tries as Nittawela went silent (CR 38-21 KSC).
In the final move, Dinal Ekanayake scored the bonus point try for the hosts as it was too little too late to stop CR from a famous win.
It was in 2019 that Kandy suffered their last defeat at home, losing 23-22 to Army SC.
The second round will begin in the first week of February.