Navy SC pull off win with late burst in thriller

Back-to-back-to-back tries and a last minute penalty booted over helped Navy SC pull off a thrilling one-point (32-31) win over Air Force SC in the Nippon Paint Rugby league encounter played at Welisara on Friday.

Navy SC having trailed 17-10 at the breather accumulated their points through three goals, a try and two penalties against the four goals and penalty scored by Air Force SC.

Navy SC were in tatters as they were trailing 31-10 with ten minutes left for the long whistle to be blown before they came back with vengeance to plant three successive tries and the winning penalty booted over by full back Thilina Weerasinghe in the dying stages of the match.

The first session saw Navy SC making the first scoring from a penalty booted over by Thilina Weerasinghe which followed by Air Force SC hooker Parakrama Ratnayake going over for two tries within the space of five minutes, both being converted. Nuwan Perera booting over a penalty meant the Airmen led 17-3 which was reduced by Janith Laksara going over for a try and Weerasinghe adding the extra pointers for Navy SC.

The second half saw the Airmen stretching their lead before Navy SC got their act together to turn the game in their favor with a trio of tries scored by Stephan Gregory, Musheen Faleel and Nirosh Perera which followed by Weerasinghe booting over the crucial 40-metre penalty for Navy SC to end their league campaign on a winning note.