Air Force rugby on the rise

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

A team which is well on its way to recapturing its past glory in rugby is the Sri Lanka Air Force.

The Airmen who were a force to be reckoned with on the rugby field in the 1970s and 1980s could not live upto expectations during the last 14 years since they resumed playing competitive rugby in 1996 after a six year lay off from 1990 to 1995 due to the second Eelam War which broke out in June, 1990.

The Airmen failed to impress in 15-a-side rugby despite producing some outstanding ruggerites during the 14 year period although entering the final of the Rugby Sevens twice in 2006 at Ratgama (losing to CR 29-36) and at Longden Place in 2008 (losing to Kandy SC 12-41)

But this year with Imthisham Marikar taking over as their coach they have once again emerged as a force to be reckoned with. In the Caltex 'A' Division League they scored three smashing wins over Army (16-13), Havelocks (20-3) and CH and FC (10-3) and lost by a whisker to Navy (5-6) in the curtain-raiser of the tournament.

They went down fighting to mighty Kandy SC (6-14) at Ratmalana and were edged out by CR and FC (18-13) after leading 13-6 at the breather and also lost to Police 27-32 in a thriller.

The Airmen lost to Navy by the identical margin of 5-6 in the return match and also went down to CR and FC (6-29) and Kandy SC (3-32) to finish in fourth position in the Caltex 'A' Division League - their best performance in recent years.

In the Clifford Cup knock-out tournament the Airmen bolstered by the presence of Sri Lanka ruggerites Jayantha Ranaweera, Radhika Hettiarachchi and Navinda Pullikuttiarachchi overcame the Police (18-13) in the quarter-finals and in the semi-final were trailing 3-20 at 'lemons' against the mighty Kandy SC but came up with a magnificent display in the second half to go down fighting by 24-27 at Bogambara.

The Airmen also came up with a marvellous performance in the Club Rugby Sevens in which they lost to CR and FC in the Cup Championship final by a narrow margin of 17-21 in the final after scoring a smashing 29-7 win over Army in the semi-final. Their 'B' team clinched the Plate Championship with a runaway 29-12 win over CR and FC 'B' in the final after overcoming Police 'B' by 35-12 in the semi-final.

They were richly rewarded when four of their players - Chanaka Chandimal, Charith Seneviratne, Dilan de Zoysa and Radhika Hettiarachchi were picked to play for Sri Lanka at the Shanghai Sevens.

The Air Force have obtained the services of four outstanding Sri Lanka youth players - Kingswoodians Rajitha Sansoni, Prabath Jayalath, Uchitha Jayasuriya and Chethiya Wadugodapitiya and their aim will be to finish within the first two in the Caltex 'A' Division League next year.

With seasoned campaigners of the calibre of Milinda Jayasinghe, Wasamba Senarath, Jayantha Ranaweera, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Pradeep Kurululasuriya and Dilan de Zoysa in their ranks in addition to talented youngsters like Chanaka Chandimal, Charith Seneviratne and Rajitha Sansoni the Airmen are bound to go places in next year's 'A' Division League.

Air Force savoured their final moment on the rugby field in 1986 when they clinched club rugby's richest prize - the Clifford Cup by overcoming the mighty Police by 10-8 in the final.