CR in superb 32-18 victory over Police

Ranjan ANANDAPPA

CR and FC began their campaign for the Caltex ‘A’ division league title on a winning note defeating a determined Police outfit by 32 points ( 2 goals,3 tries and 1 penalty) to 18 (1 try,1 goal and 2 penalties) win at Longden Place yesterday.

Police began on a promising note when Harshana Wijeweera fired over a penalty, but in a couple of minutes ‘CR’s winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe broke off from midfield and dashed through to score and Reza Mubarak added the extra points. The ‘Red Shirts’ combining well and had a brief scoring session with a Mubarak, penalty and two tries scored by number 8 Dushantha Lewke off a five yard scrum and winger Vishmamithra Jayasinghe covering around 80 meters to cross the police line. Reza Mubarak was successful in putting over one conversion.

However, police partially came back into the game with their forwards play. They touched down twice in succession when Gemunu Indrachapa intercepted a pass and saw Thusitha Samaratileka piercing the ‘CR’ defence which Wijeweera made no mistake with the conversion and minutes later prop Nishantha Welegedera scored off a push over try.

‘CR’ skipper and number 8 Lewke gave his side a 25/15 lead just before lemons scoring an unconverted try.

On resumption the policemen gave a spirited display to keep ‘CR’ at bay by winning possession through their robust set of forwards.

They looked impressive and were only short of converting the good work into points which they desperately needed to reduce the gap. During the dying stages of the game hooker Bilal Hassan made certain that ‘CR’ press the advantage with a try which Mubarak made no mistake with the kick. Wijeweera put over a penalty to make the final tally 32/18 in favour of the Longden Place Club.

Referee Gamini Indrasena.