Injury hit CR take on Air Force in semi final

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

CR and FC will miss the services of fly half Ashan de Costa, Flanker Pavithra Fernando and No.8 Dushanth Lewke when they confront the Air Force in the semi-final of the Caltex knock-out Rugby Tournament for the Clifford Cup at Longden Place today.

Lewke’s place will be taken by Diren Warnakulasuriya while Faizal Marija will fill the vacant flanker berth. Regular scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara who had an excellent game as fly half against Army will continue in his new position and will pair off with Zulki Hamid.

The Red Shirts won both matches in the Caltex ‘A’ Division League by 26-0 and 55-0 but today they are expected to receive stiff resistance from the Airmen who have been training hard during the last few days.

CR’s ‘threes’ gave a dazzling display during the last match with Srinath Sooriyabandara testing the Army defence to the hilt with his daring runs. Centres Karunanayake and Lasintha de Costa are hard runners who are capable of breaching the Air Force defence today while winger Dinesh Kumara will pose the biggest threat with his powerful runs down the flank.

The Sri Lanka Air Force will miss the services of Sri Lanka Under-20 players Nikira Senanayake of Royal and Thomian Janik Jayasuriya who will be representing the Sri Lanka Youth team at the Under-20 Asiad in Hong Kong next week.

CR and FC: Danushka Boteju, Anuja Perera, Henry Terrence, Ishan Noor, Ashen Karthelis (captain), Danushka Perera, Faizal Marija, Diren Warnakulasuriya, Zulki Hamid and Srinath Sooriyabandara, Dinesh Kumara, Niroshan Karunanayake, Lasintha de Costa, Dinusha Chathuranga, Reza Mubarak.

Air Force: Saumya Silva, Buddhi Bandara, Liston Silva, P. Samarahewa, Ranil Medagedera, Mohmed Riyazi, Nuwan Darshana, Dinesh Weeraratne, Rameez Rafeek and Suranga Arunashantha, Ameel Junaid, Pubudu Ranaweera, Migara Medagedera, Pubudu Kodagoda, Gayan Iddamalgoda.