Kandy SC and Navy go out favourites

Thushan JAYASURIYA

Defending champions Kandy Sports Club and the formidable Navy Sports Club will go out favourites to win their matches against Sri Lanka Air Force at Ratmalana and CR and FC at Welisara respectively in the Dialog ‘A’ division league rugby tournament today.

Kandy Sports Club who were given a scare by Sri Lanka Army in their last match two weeks ago before emerging victorius by 9 – 6 are expected to give a much better display against the lowly placed Airmen.Kandy's three quarters should run riot today with the halves combination of Roshan Weeraratne and Fazil Marija combining effectively while Pradeep Liyanage, Gayan Weeraratne Mohamed Jabbar and the attacking full back skipper Saliya Kumara should test the Airmen's defence to the hilt with their daring runs. The Airmen who are playing sans foreigners will strive to contain Kandy SC with some bone-crunching tackling.

The Sri Lanka Navy under flanker and Sri Lanka skipper Yoshitha Rajapaksa who are also enjoying a fine season with five successive wins should get the better of CR and FC , and keep their unbeaten record intact on their home grounds at Welisara. The sailors are in fine form having beaten Up country Lions by 35 – 8 last week and the Red shirts will have to come up with a much better performance if they hope to topple the high riding sailors .

The Longden Place Club who began the season with two successive wins over Army ( 22 - 20 ) and Air Force ( 44 - 27 ) , then suffered two crushing defeats at the hands of Havelocks ( 7 - 38 ) and Police ( 28- 36 ) are relying too much on their two foreign players Luke Muggeridge and Sabir Slaimankhel and the local players will have to come up with a better performance if they are to prevent their third consecutive defeat for the season. Last year, the first round game ended in a 18 - all draw while in the return game the sailors ran out victorius by 33 - 13 at Welisara.

The vastly improved Police Sports Club should have no difficulty in over coming the bottom of the table CH and FC on their home grounds at Police park on Sunday .

The Policemen are in buoyant mood after two successive wins over Up Country Lions ( 12- 10 ) and CR and FC ( 36 – 28 )and will go all out to make it three in a row by beating CH and FC .