Are Kandy destined to dominate another decade?

Kandy Sports Club completed another domestic double on Sunday when they defeated CR and FC to clinch the Clifford Cup following up their league victory a couple of weeks ago. 

This was such an outstanding comeback for the rugby giants from the Hill Capital having lost the league to CR and FC last season.

Kandy easily has the biggest rugby fan base in Sri Lanka. When there is a big game up in Nittawela crowds filling in from around 1 p.m for a game that  kicks off at 4 p.m with fans from different upbringings which is why when they lost the league in nearly a decade last year it was felt like massive loss for many. 

However, when Kandy regain their mojo it usually lasts for a very long time. For instance when they won the league title in 2001, they went on to retain the title for 11 straight years until 2012 when Havelock secured it, and then Navy would win it in 2013/2014 season with about ten thousand Fijians, but Kandy did come back and regained their title in 2014/2015 memorably beating one of the strongest Navy teams (during a league fixture) in history of Sri Lanka rugby in Welisara courtesy of a famous South African flanker by the name of Chris Cloete. Since then they went on to  win eight titles again before last year. So, are they destined to go for another unreal streak? 

Kandy has certainly got the squad to do that although they will miss one of their most loyal servants in Nigel Ratwatte who has been a very consistent player for them for such a long time finally calling time on his career following the double over the weekend. 

Centre Danushka Ranjan and full-back Srinath Sooriyabandara are also probably in the twilight of their careers, but Tarinda Ratwatte looks set to be their next Marija for the coming decade. 

They have a very fresh forward pack that played brilliantly despite their lack of experience this season. Kandy are traditionally known for their backs, but this season there were games that were won by their forwards which is a great sign moving ahead. 

So what stands in their way? 

Dushanth Lewke.

If things don't take a drastic turn in the next few years Lewke's CR is going to be the most challenging team for Kandy without a doubt. The former Sri Lanka captain may have just won one league title as a coach, but his work deserves to be recognised. He took over a CR team that had hit the rock bottom. It took him a while but he made it work last year and there is no doubt that he could make it work again. 

CR deadly trio 

Adeesha Weeratunga, Lasindu Ishan and Omalka Gunaratne could all start for Sri Lanka national team - they are that good, but they were all injured in what was a very inconsistent season for Red Shirts, but when fully fit, these trio could cause trouble for any team, but the big question mark is, are they going to stick around Longden Place for long? There were days when Malik Samarawickrama could have bagged all these players as soon as a season was done, but the Money Man of Kandy may have gone cold. 

Havelocks too young?

Havelocks have very experienced and solid set of forwards which the head coach Saliya Kumara inherited from Sanath Martis, but their backline as a unit still looks a long way away from dominating big teams. That being said, they nearly knocked Kandy out early on this season. 

When the foreigners were allowed to take part in the league few years ago, Police seemed to always find really good players. Obviously, Kandy and Navy used to get better known players, but Police must have had a really good scouting system that they recruited lesser known players who would go on to play magnificently - the prime examples being Apisai Naqaliva and Emosi Vunivosa. Perhaps that will be the case again should we see foreigners in the league again. 

As for Navy, if they are to win the league again, they'd probably need Namal Rajapaksa to be the President of this country.