CR face tough task against Navy

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

Runners-up of the Caltex ‘A’ Division League Title for the last seven years CR and FC face the tough task of overcoming the formidable Navy Sports Club in their Caltex ‘A’ Division League rugby match at Longden Place today.

The Red Shirts which suffered a shock defeat (10-11) at the hands of Police need a victory in today’s game if they are to stay in contention for the ‘A’ Division League Title.

But the Red Shirts won’t have it easy against the sailors who are in a buoyant mood after two successive wins over Army and Air Force.

The forte of the sailors are their power-packed forwards skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa has been a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play. He has been ably supported by Piumal Manchanayake, Sathya Ranatunge, Danushka Perera, Mohamed Izzadeen and sturdily built Sumedha Malewana and the Navy ‘eight’ should outplay their counterparts in the loose.

The Red Shirts will rely on their three quarters to deliver the goods. In Srinath Sooriyabandara and Ashen de Costa they have a superb halves combination while Mohamed Sheriff, Mushin Faleel and that powerful runner Vishwamithra Jayasinghe are capable of piercing the Navy defence with full back Reza Mubarak also joining the line to form the overlap.

CR AND FC - Shehan Dimitri, Mohamed Rizwan, Dunstan de Silva, Hasitha Perera, Ishan Noor, Chilanka Samaraweera, Shero Fernando, Dushanth Lewke (Captain), Srinath Sooriyabandara and Ashen de Costa, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Mushin faleel, Mohamed Sheriff, Nuwan Chamara, Reza Mubarak.

NAVY - Piumal Manchanayake, Dushyantha Wijayasinghe, Sathya Ranatunge, Sumedha Malewana, Soyuru Anthony, Mohamed Izzadeen, Yoshitha Rajapaksa (Captain), Danushka Perera, Samantha Lakshan and Dev Anand, Dinusha Chathuranga, Kosala Tissera, Chula Susantha, Niranjan Wickramaratne, Eranda Weerakkody.