Thilina kicks Navy into Clifford Cup final

Thilina Weerasinghe executed a superb drop goal from nearly 50 metres out to steer Navy SC to a thrilling 16-13 victory over Army SC in extra time in their SLR Nippon Paint Clifford Cup Knock-Out Rugby Tournament second semi-final match played at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo yesterday.

The dynamic full back with the golden boot, collected a high kick from Army SC shortly after the start of extra time and found the target beautifully to take his team into the final for the first time since 2018.

Earlier, the match ended in a 13-13 draw at the completion of the normal 80 minutes of play with both teams collecting their points from one goal and two penalties before Weerasinghe produced the match winning drop goal in the first minute of extra time. Navy SC were trailing 3-7 at half time and once again they were down 6-13 going into the last 10 minutes of play before they brought the game alive with a last-minute try from their dynamic scrum half Harsha Maduranga.

Army SC were reduced to 14-men at this stage after a yellow-card on their prop forward Ijaz Ahmed and the Sailors took advantage of the extra man on the field to score the decisive try following a successful line-out with Isuru Kongahawatta adding the vital extra points.

Navy SC opened the scoring in the 14th minute with Weerasinghe getting things underway with an easy penalty before Army SC hit back with their first try coming in the 28th minute from Chalika Sandaruwan.

The third row forward spotted a gap in the Navy SC defence and barged over almost under the post after the forwards had worked on three to four phases close to the try-line.

Fly half Chamath Fernando added the extra points as Army SC went into half time with a psychological advantage of 7-3.

However, Navy SC further reduced the margin a few minutes after the break with fly half Samuel Maduwantha firing across a penalty to make it 6-7.

Thereafter, Army SC took a commanding 13-6 lead and were well set to pull off the game with Chamath Fernando putting over two splendid penalties – one from 50 metres out and the second from a difficult angle.