Can CH and FC withstand Army's fire-power today?

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

Can the youthful CH and FC outfit withstand Army's fire-power? The answer to this question will be found only this evening when these two teams clash in the curtain-raiser of the Caltex 'A' Division League at Maitland Crescent today.

CH and FC will field a young outfit due to an exodus of players to other clubs and it is left to be seen how they will fare against the Army team which is packed with seasoned campaigners.

The forte of the soldiers have been their power-packed forwards - Nushal Meepage, Asoka Jayalal, Nishantha Kotelawela, Ratnayake, Manoj Silva and Ajith Susantha who should give another sterling display to outplay their counterparts in the loose. In the set scrums CH's Bimal Herath should get the better of his vis-a-vis Army's Asoka Jayalal while the line outs are likely to be shared between CH's Sandun Kumara, Dinesh Sanjeewa and the Army duo of Ratnayake and Susantha.

However the lads from Maitland Crescent possess a much better back division. They will hope that their new halves combination of ex-Peterite skipper Ranuka Jayasinghe and Omar Hassan will click as they have hard runners in Avantha Hettiarachchi, Shane Dissanayake and Lakala Perera who are capable of punching holes in the Army defence.

Last year Army scored a stunning 22-12 win over CH in the first round fixture at Police Park while CH scored a smashing 38-5 win in the return match at Maitland Crescent.

CH AND FC: Azid Ismail, Bimal Herath, Tharindu Hasaranga, Sathya Ranatunge, Sandun Kumara, Asoka Gunawardena, Asanka Thalagalarachchi, Dinesh Sanjeewa (Captain), Ranuka Jayasinghe and Omar Hassan, Lakala Perera, Shane Dissanayake, Avantha Hettiarachchi, Niroshan Ekanayake, Indika Udayakumara.

ARMY: Nushal Meepage, Asoka Jayalal, Nishantha Kotelawela, Ajith Susantha (Captain), R.M.G. Ratnayake, Akram, Karunatilleke, Manoj Silva, Tharindu Darshana and Kapila Knowlton, Maurice Abeyratne, Asanka Perera, Hapugaskumbura, Saliya Handapangoda, Duminda Wickremaratne.