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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Kandy's threes vs CH forwards for Clifford Cup final by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr. It is going to be rugby extravaganza when the defending Clifford Cup champions Kandy Sports Club lock horns with the giant killers CH and FC in the final of the Caltex sponsored Clifford Cup knock-out rugby tourney scheduled to be played today - 4th September, at the Nittawela Rugby Complex in Kandy commencing at 4.45 p.m. It is likely to be a battle between Kandy's three-quarters and CH and FC's forwards. If Kandy Sports Club wins this final, they will be completing a record seven successive Clifford Cup wins and also will be clinching the rugby double of Caltex League and Clifford for a record seven successive years which no rugby playing club in Sri Lanka has achieved before. It will take a herculean effort to achieve it. As it is, Kandy sports Club has completed a double hat-trick of wins both in the Clifford Cup and one better in the League Championship, leaving others to pick the crumbs from the table. What is most astonishing is the fact that though the Clifford Cup tournament was first played in 1950 and it took 42 years for Kandy SC to grab this trophy and once they did, they have had a stranglehold on it, by winning it for 11 years out of the possible 12 years and the only year they could not grab it was in 1998 when they went trophyless except for the under 24 title. That's the record of Kandy in the Clifford Cup. The CH & FC last won this title way back in 1990 under Imran Sally and that year they went on to complete the Rugby Triple of winning the John Player League title and the R. Premadasa Trophy as well, which was also run on lines with the Clifford Cup but all matches were played in Colombo at the Sugathadasa Stadium. For the record, CH & FC who made the mark much earlier have won the Clifford Cup just five times and Kandy SC who were somewhat a late developer with Malik Samarawickrema giving the much needed support, have won it 11 times with all their wins coming after 1992. Kandy SC are the reigning Caltex League champions which title they have won for the seventh successive year and they are the defending Clifford Cup champions. They will be led by that crack winger Sanjeewa Jayasinghe who probably is the only Sri Lankan to have scored a try against the All Blacks which feat he achieved at the Dubai Sevens a few years ago. Kandy entered the finals of the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka Air Force 63 - 8 in the quarter-finals but were given a torrid time by Army who were edged out 21-10 in the semi-finals. Kandy's forte is their back division which is virtually a national outfit with Sri Lanka skipper Sajith Mllikarachchi and Pradeep Liyanage as centres and on the wings, are indefatigable Chamara Withanage and skipper Sanjeewa Jayasinghe with fullback Nalaka Weerakkody too capable of joining the three-quarters to form the over lap. The halves combination of Amjad Buksh and Fazil Marija have clicked well. But the chink in their armour is their forwards who are not up to the mark. One could hope they will come good with the return of Sean Wanigasekera, Pradeep Basnayake and Dushantha Lewke. CH & FC will be led by that fine centre three-quarter Saranga Jayakody and they walked into the semi-finals with a 41-8 win over Police but they reserved their best performance of the season for their semi-final tie against their arch rivals CR & FC and overpowered them 6-3 to storm into the finals. CH & FC's ammunition lies with their wonderful set of forwards who could be a thorn in the flesh of Kandy's pack. They have earned a name for themselves with their hard play. Excelling for them is tall Bertie Jayasekera, Shashika Cooray, hooker Sameera Wijesinghe, Jayantha Ranaweera, veteran Duminda de Silva, Senaka Bandara, Dilanka Wijesekera and Dhanushka Perera. One wonders how Kandy could match this mobile set of forwards. Whatever the outcome of the game, red hot rugby is in store for the rugby fans today at Nittawela. Managing Director of Caltex Kishu Gomes is the chief guest for the occasion. Also gracing the occasion will be SLRFU President Priyantha Ekanayake, Secretary Dilroy Fernando, Caltex Marketing Manager Vajira Abeysinghe, Media Relations officer Zahrain Hameem. Teams CH & FC (from Shahshika Cooray, Sameera Wijesinghe, Berty Jayasekera, Duminda de Silva, Jayantha Ranaweera, Senaka Bandara, Dilanka Wijesekera, Dhanushka Perera, Millinda Jayasinghe, Nalin Dissanayake, Dinesh Kumara, Saranga Jayakody (Captain), Rukshan Wijesinghe, Dinuk de Wijeratne, Tuan Boran, Harshana Wijeweera, Naresh Liyanage, Udaya Kumara, Saheed Jiffrey, Niroshan Ekanayake, A. Thalagodarachchi, Prabath Fernando (coach M. W. Rafeel). Kandy SC (from) Saranth Hettiarachchi, Anju Buksh, Jeewa Galgamuwa, Pradeep Basnayake, Sumedha Jayasinghe, Kapila Silva, Sean Wijesinghe, Imran Bisthamin, Dushantha Lewke, Amjad Buksh and Fazil Marija, Sanjeewa jayasinghe (Captain), Pradeep Liyanage, Sajith Mallikarachchi, Chamara Withanage, Nalaka Weerakoddy, Sameera Silva, Malith Silva, Malith Hettiarachchi, Nilfer Ibrahim, Lasantha Malikarachchi, Ajith Prasanna, Prasad Chathuranga, Duminda Pullukuttiarachchi, (coach, Bruce Robertson, Chairman Rugby - D. Sivasubramaniam) *** Lewke controversy : Today's final will go ahead Today's Caltex Clifford Cup rugby final between Kandy Sports Club and CH & FC at Nittawela will go ahead as scheduled and if there is another protest, the Council of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) will then take a decision. The President of the SLRFU, Priyantha Ekanayake, said that the council met in Kandy last morning on Army's protest against Dushan Lewke turning out for Kandy Sports Club in the Caltex Clifford Cup Championship. He turned out for CH & FC in the Caltex league championship. Lewke had certain problems with his coach at CH & FC (Bimal Perera) and joined Kandy SC to play in the Caltex Clifford Cup tournament and played against Army in the semi-final. Army protested about Lewke's eligibility to turn out for Kandy SC. The tournament committee of the SLRFU too met in emergency session and made their recommendations to the SLRFU Council who met last morning and arrived at the decision to take the matter up later if there is a further protest. Ekanayake further said that as far as the Union is concerned, Lewke, was released by CH & FC and joined Kandy SC, but Army, has challenged the authenticity of Lewke's letter to the SLRFU. (L.G.) |
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