CR end 17-year wait with smashing 37-5 win over Havies

RUGBY: The Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club came up with a power-packed display to score a smashing 37 points to 5 win over arch rivals Havelocks Sports Club in the Caltex-Clifford Cup final on Saturday to lay their hands on club rugby's richest prize - the Clifford Cup after 17 years.

The Red Shirts reigned supreme at Longden Place on Saturday to completely outplay the lads from Havelock Park to clinch the symbol of rugby supremacy - the Clifford Cup which has eluded them since 1989 when under the leadership of Sheham Siddik they edged out Navy led by Parakrama Samaraweera by 6 points to 3 in the final.

While the marauding CR forwards dominated in the loose the three quarters turned in a dazzling display of open rugby running the ball at every opportunity.

Skipper Pavithra Fernando was a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play while Ashen Karthelis, Anuja Perera, Anuradha Dharmatilleke, Eranga Swarnatilleke and Senthil Kumara gave of their best enabling the CR 'eight' to maintain its supremacy. For Havelocks Tyronne Harrison, Ravi Jayasuriya and Chathuranga Amerasinghe made a valiant effort but lacked support from the rest of their team-mates.

In the set scrums CR's young hooker Anuja Perera got the better of his vis-a-vis Rajiv Perera while the line outs were shared between the Havelocks trio of Amerasinghe, Boteju and Jayasuriya and the CR duo of Dharmatilleke and Karthelis.

The CR three quarters came up with their best performance for the season. The halves combination of Zulki Hamid and Omar Sariffodeen hit it off smoothly.

Zulki in addition to sending out accurate passes also made some daring breaks from the base of the scrum which had the Havelocks defence in disarray. Centres Mohamed Sheriff and Avantha Hettiarchchi sliced through the Havelocks defence time and again while winger Dinesh Kumara made some powerful runs down the flank and had the honour of scoring the best try of the match when he dashed through over 60 metres to touch down mid right after receiving a pass from centre Mohamed Sheriff.

Asanga Rodrigo who manned the last line of defence had an excellent game. He joined the line to form the overlap on several occasions and scored a beautiful try in the first half. Havelocks fly half Sajith Bandara wasted the limited possession that came their way by kicking ahead aimlessly.

These tactics did not pay dividends as CR full back Asanga Rodrigo was a tower of strength with his safe collections and booming kicks to touch.

On the few occasions Bandara set the three quarters in motion centre Lalinda Rodrigo made some daring runs before he was brought down in the nick of time. He stood out in defence too with some bone-crunching tackles.

After the final CR skipper Pavithra Fernando received the glittering Caltex Golden Star Trophy and the most valuable trophy in club rugby-the Clifford Cup from the Chief Executive Officer of Caltex Lubricants Kishu Gomes.

(R.S.)