CH-Havelocks clash should be a thriller

RUGBY: The confrontation between CH and FC and Havelocks Sports Club in the second semi-final of the Caltex Clifford Cup knock-out rugby tournament at Longden Place tomorrow should turn out to be a thriller.

The lads from Maitland Crescent won both matches of the 'A' Division League by 15-13 and 33-10 respectively but tomorrow Havelocks who are in a buoyant mood after their resounding 34-13 win over Army will go all out to topple CH and enter the final.

Tomorrow's match should turn out to be a battle between CH's power-packed forwards and Havelocks speedy three quarters. Possession should play a vital role in the final outcome.

In the set scrums CH's Achala Perera should get the better of his vis-a-vis Rajiv Perera while in the line-outs the Havelocks trio of Amerasinghe, Boteju and Jayasuriya have the edge over the CH duo of Senarath and Malewana.

The CH 'eight' have given a terrific display in most of the matches and should outplay their counterparts in the loose with Dilanka Wijesekera, Malewana, Senarath, Achala Perera, Bertie Jayasekera and Dian Ekanayake likely to come up with another sterling display.

The Park Club boast of a fine set of three quarters. The halves combination of Dilan de Zoysa and Sajith Bandara have hit it off smoothly while centres Ruwan Suranga, Lalindra Rodrigo and winger Philip Esingharachchi have pierced the opponents defence with their powerful runs with full back Dilip Methruwan joining the line to form the overlap.

The teams:

CH and FC: Sashika Cooray, Achala Perera, Dilan Ekanayake, Wasamba Senerath, Bertie Jayasekera (captain), Dilanka Wijesekera, Sumedha Malewana, Rajiv Ganapathy, Milinda Jayasinghe and Mohamed Saldin, Nishantha Kumara, Rukshan Wijesinghe, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Indika Kumara, Saliya Kumara.

Havelocks: Shafi Hassen, Rajiv Perera, Chathuranga Amerasinghe, Lahiru Boteju, S. B. Dissanayake, Ravi Jayasuriya, T. D. Seneviratne, Tyronne Harrison, Dilan de Zoysa and Sajith Bandara, Ameen Jamail, Ruwan Suranga (captain), Lalindra Rodrigo, Philip Esingharachchi, Dilip Methruwan.

- (R.S.)