CR vs CH - two worthy winners! Who will be 'champs' this year?

Caltex "President's Trophy" Knockout rugby final:

Ken de Joodt

RUGBY: Surely, every club rugby fan in Sri Lanka would want to be at this Caltex Rugby "Knock-out Final" - to watch a splendid, exciting game, where two equally matched teams, CR & FC and CH & FC will 'lock horns' to contest for the prestigious "President's Trophy".

This certainly could be the "Match of the Season" - which will take place tomorrow, Sunday 23 on the beautiful, picturesque grounds of the CR & FC Rugby Stadium at Longdon Place, with the kick-off set for 4.30 p.m.

Yes, yes, yes! no doubt it is the end of the Caltex 2007 club rugby season but it has reached the 'super final' key match, which many rugby fans have long waited for, to 'catch' the excitement of a well-balanced game between two splendid teams, that have produced scintillating rugby during this season.

"Rugby in Sri Lanka has come a long way.... and is a sport that appeals to all age groups" is what the CEO/Managing Director of Chevron/Caltex Lubricants Lanka, Kishu Gomes expressed recently after the Clifford Cup Knock-out Tournament. He did rightly say, that rugby as a whole has had an exciting season!

The Caltex Inter-Club League and the "Clifford Cup" Knock-out tournament witnessed some of the most enthralling and entertaining matches... and with this intention Caltex has supported the SLRFU to bring back the "President's Trophy" this year adding to the excitement!

It was in 1977 that the "President's Trophy" was inaugurated and it may be significant in the annals of this tournament, to state that CR & FC were the first winners with a glorious win over the Army, by 22 pts. to 6, led by Shiraz Fernando.

In the following year, Havelocks annexed the Trophy with a hard fought win over Kandy by 10 pts. to 4 (a try was 4 points then!) Havelocks was captained by Anton Benedict, an outstanding player of that era, who was blessed with the "Midas touch"... (everything he touched 'turned to gold'!)

As two illustrious Rugby personalities, DIG Nimal Leuke, the competent President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Union and the CEO SLRFU Dilroy Fernando, (Sri Lanka's finest and most experienced referee, known Internationally and locally at present), would confirm that the support and invaluable sponsorship received from "Caltex", has been of great benefit to Sri Lanka rugby. This has enabled the SLRFU to conduct successful tournaments throughout, since year 2000.

With the "President's Trophy" tourney, another 'feather to their cap' was added and it 'kicked off' superbly on September 14 with the quarter finals and semi finals, all been played at Longdon Place. All the rugby 'flair and fun' was seen when the Havelocks, CR, CH and Kandy gained good wins over the Air Force, Army, Police and Dimbula respectively.

CR overcame a tough challenge from Havelocks winning by 18 points to 8 in their semi-final game on Thursday 20th. On the previous day CH & FC soundly beat a 'young' Kandy side by 59 points to 8 pts! CH & FC ran down 8 tries, with Sajith Bandara contributing 19 points through conversions and a penalty.

Kandy could score only 8 points from one try and a penalty.

It seems like a good Sunday evening of entertaining and breathtaking Rugby is on the cards, with the challenge between two dazzling Rugby teams - CH & FC and CR & FC! Rugby fans would do well to watch the "Match of the Season."

Chief guest on this delightful occasion will be Kishu Gomes, CEO of Caltex/Chevron.

Teams are:

CH & FC - Shashika Cooray, Achala Perera, Jayantha Ranaweera (Captain), Dinesh Sanjeewa, Navinda Pulukkuttuarachchi, Thalagalarachchi, Sumedha Malewana, Wasaba Senarath, Tuan Shamrock, Sajith Bandara, Ruckshan Wijesinghe, Dinuka Jayasinghe, Mathisa Silva, Lakala Perera, Niroshan Ekanayaka and Dinuk Wijeratne.

CR & FC - Shamil Mohamed, Anuja Perera, Suranga Swarnatilake, Henry Terrance, Anuradha Dharmatilleke (Captain), Ashen Karthelis, Senthil Kumar, Naveen Wijetunge, Zulki Hamid, Ashan de Costa, Ravindra Wekadapola, Lasintha de Costa, Mohamed Sheriff, Dinesh Kumara and Radhika Hettiarachchi. Referee Aruna Jayasekara

'Kick off' time 4.30 pm.