Unbeaten CR take on vastly improved CH today

CR and FC will take on traditional rivals CH and FC, today while Police will host Havelocks tomorrow in their key fourth week fixtures of the Nippon Paint Sri Lanka Rugby Major League Tournament in Colombo.

CR vs CH

High riding CR will play their second home game today at Longdon Place and are tipped to have the edge over their rivals. They will go all out to retain the Hadji Omar Trophy which they won consecutively the last two years.

The second team to remain undefeated after Kandy so far in this year’s tournament, they will miss the services of flanker AdeeshaWeeratunga who is nursing an injury and will be replaced by another prolific player Shehan Kalaniyagoda who will bind in the pack.

Even though, the Red jersyed men have a hefty set of playerst o lock horn as forwards, their three quarters have become the cynosure of all eyes.They are pretty scintillating in offense while equally good int defence. It took some time for the Longdon Place lads to jell as a team, but once they found their rhythm, they kept the momentum going, and more importantly, maintained their winning streak.

According to their coach Dushanth Lewke, the team is shaping up well except for one injury. “It is going to be a tough game for us as CH have found their rhythm. With the inclusion of players from other clubs they are one of the major forces to reckon with. Nevertheless, we are also ready for the challenge and are very confident that our boys will deliver the goods for us,” said Lewke.

CH and FC is one of the sides which has shown tremendous improvement after losing their tournament opener to Kandy. They outsmarted the mighty Havelocks and Navy in their own dens.

Incumbent head coach Sanath Martis has put up an indefatigable effort to transform this young side to a winning outfit. They possess a well-balanced side which will never play second fiddle to any team in this competition.

“We have trained well to play as a team. Except for one player in the three-quarter line, rest of the team remains unchanged. More importantly, each player in the squad has managed to identify his role in the team in their respective playing positions. This has enabled us to execute our plans perfectly well to retain the habit of keeping on winning,” said Martis.

Police vs Havelocks poised to be a thriller

On Saturday, at Police Park it is going to be a cliff hanger when Police scrum down against Havelocks. After going down to Kandy two weeks back, the Cops are likely to make a few tactical changes, both with their forwards and backs.

When these two teams met last season, the Cops overcame Havelocks under their coach Nilfer Ibrahim who has played a big hand in their success so far. He was instrumental in converting this young set of players to be fit and put up some stunning performances.

Their strength at the outset was the mobile set of forwards,but as the tournament progressed, the back division rose to the occasion to move the ball and make most of the scoring.

“I am happy that the boys have gradually got the much-neededt emperament of handling the pressure. Even though our strength was the forwards,the three quarters cannot be underrated. They have improved tremendously and playing a pivotal role in our success. It is poised to be a do or die game for us and we are pretty optimistic that our boys will deliver the goods for us,”said Ibrahim.

Havelocks on the other hand had a narrow escape when they just managed to pull out a close 43-41 win over Army after brimming with confidence at lemons with a healthy lead. The Soldiers retaliation in the second half put the Park Club boys in total disarray. Eventually they managed to sneak through and win the game after some anxious moments.

However, their coach Saliya Kumara had a different point of view, saying that he was compelled to evaluate his players before these big games, commencing from this game. According to Saliya, they are injury free and likely to field the same start up line which played against Army.

“Well, it was another game for us against Army which we managed to win by43-41. We have done our homework well and will concentrate match by match. We never underrate any team in this competition and we are equally geared up to put up a scintillating performance,” said Saliya.

Army v Navy; Kandy v Air Force

Meanwhile, on Friday Army will host Navy in Panagoda, whichthe Soldiers are poised to win rather comfortably. Navy is the only team to lose all their games and struggling to notch up their maiden win.

On Saturday, Kandy will travel to Ratmalana to scrum down against Air Force who are reeling with a solitary win so far in the tournament.

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