Navy in smashing 36-8 win over Air Force..

Sri Lanka Navy emerged victorious in the curtain raiser of the Dialog Rugby League ‘A’ Division tournament as they outplayed Sri Lanka Air Force by 36 points [four goals, a try and a penalty] to 8 [a try and a penalty] at Welisara yesterday after leading by 17-8 at the breather.

The Sailors got the better of the Airmen through their hardworking forwards spearheaded by Sathya Ranatunga, Sajith Saranga, Supun Peiris and Yoshitha Rajapaksa who held sway in the loose.

Navy opened scoring through a Penalty by Thlina Weerasinghe. Later the homesters went onto increase their lead with prop forward Sathya Ranatunga powering his way to score two tries with full back Weerasinghe adding the extrapoints to both tries.

The Airmen reduced the deficit when Nuwan Perera fired across a metre penalty and before the breather they cut down the deficit further through an unconverted try by Ishara Madushan and at lemons, the Sailors led 17-8.

The second half was dominated by the Sailors who breached the Airmen’s defence on three more occasions through tries by Centre Kosala Tissera [one], flanker Yoshitha Rajapaksa[one] and Supun Peiris [one]. Weerasinghe converted one try while fly half Dev Anand added the extra points to the other try and the Sailors ran out worthy winners by 36 points to 8 indicating that they are a strong contender for the ‘A’ division league title this year having being edged out into second place by eventual champions Kandy SC last year