CR face tough task against Police today

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

The reigning President's Trophy champions and runners-up of the Caltex 'A' Division League CR and FC face the tough task of overcoming Sri Lanka Police in their Caltex 'A' Division League Rugby match at Longden Place today.

The Policemen are in a buoyant mood after their sensational win over CH and FC in the curtain-raiser of the tournament and will go all out to topple CR which scored an unimpressive 29-3 win over Air Force last week.

The Red Shirts will miss the services of two top players veteran flanker Pavithra Fernando and full back Mohamed Sheriff both of whom are on the injured list. Fernando's Place will be taken by Sri Lanka flanker Ashen Karthelis while the last line of defence will be manned by either Sri Lanka player Ashan de Costa or Sri Lanka youth player Reza Mubarak.

Another national player Senthil Kumar who missed last week's match comes into the side as a centre and will play alongside Lasintha de Costa.

The Policemen have been boosted by the return of fly half Harshana Wijeweera who could give them territorial advantage with his long kicks to touch and is also an accurate place kicker.

Both teams possess powerful forwards and a terrific tussle can be expected up front with CR's eight especially Mohamed, Anuja Perera, Boteju, Dharmatilleke Karthelis and Dushanth Lewke being confronted by equally good forwards in Welagedera, Nizam, Malith Hettiarachchi, Wilson, Dias and Archarige.

In the set scrums CR's hooker Anuja Perera should get the better of his vis-a-vis Malith Hettiarachchi while in the line outs the Police trio of Wilson, Archarige and Dias have the edge over the CR duo of Dharmatilleke and Karthelis. The Red Shirts have a superior back division.

They will hope that their halves combination of Zulki Hamid and Dev Anand will click today as they have a hard running centre in Lasintha de Costa and two powerful runners on the wings in former Kandy SC player Mohamed Jabbar and Nalandian Nishan de Silva (who was a stand-by of the Sri Lanka Youth Team) in addition to an attacking full back in Ashan de Costa.

Last year CR emerged victorious in both matches of the Caltex 'A' Division League by beating Police by 81-11 at Police Park and 32-15 at Longden Place.

The teams:

CR and FC - Shamil Mohamed (Captain) Anuja Perera, Danushka Boteju, Anuradha Dharmatilleke, Lasantha Mallikarachchi, Ashan Karthelis, Danushka Perera, Dushanth Lewke, Zulki Hamid and Dev Anand, Nishan de Silva, Lasintha de Costa, Senthil Kumar, Mohamed Jabber, Ashan de Costa or Reza Mubarak.

Police - Nishantha Welagedera, Malith Hettiarachchi, Mohamed Nizam, Pradeep Wilson, Nalin Archarige, G. B. Gonawala, Nilusha Fernando (Captain), Ashan Dias, Milinda Bandara and Harshana Wijeweera, Hasith Nilanga, Chula Susantha, Priyantha Ekanayake, Champika Thushara, Jeevan Amaradasa,

CH - Army tomorrow

CH and FC which suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka Police get a golden opportunity to redeem lost prestige when they play host to Sri Lanka Army at Maitland Crescent tomorrow.

The soldiers gave a pathetic display against Havelocks last week and will have to give a much better display if they hope to emerge victorious tomorrow.

CH and FC - Jayantha Ranaweera (Captain), Achala Perera, Sajith Adhikari, Dinesh Sanjeewa, Damith Perera, Dilanka Wijesekera, Kosamba Senarath, Sumedha Malewana, Tuan Shamrock and Sajith Bandara, Lakala Perera, Matheesha de Silva, Rukshan Wijesinghe, Indika Udayakumara, Nuwan Basnayake.

Army - Nishantha Kotalawala, Asoka Jayalal, Nishal Meepage, R.M.G. Ratnayake, Ajith Susantha, Nishantha Kobbekaduwa, Ajith Pushpakumara, Manoj Silva, P.G. Wijesinghe or D.P. Alwis and Upul Kumara, Maurice Abeyratne, Duminda Wickramaratne, Asanka Perera, Saliya Handapangoda and T.A. Silva (Captain).