CR in unimpressive 29-3 win over Air Force

By Ranjeeva Seneviratne

RUGBY: The reigning President’s Trophy champions CR and FC scored an unimpressive 29 points (2 goals 3 tries) to 3 (1 penalty) win over Sri Lanka Air Force in their Caltex ‘A’ Division League Rugby match played at Longden Place yesterday after leading 17-3 at the breather.

The red shirts could have won this game by a much bigger margin as they won plenty of possession from the line outs and set scrums but some resolute tackling by the airmen saw the CR three-quarters spilling passes much to the dismay of their supporters.

CR won an abundance of possession from the set scrums with hooker Anuja Perera getting the better of vis-a-vis Manjula Kumara and in the line outs the CR duo of Dharmatilleke and Mallikaarachchi held sway but the three-quarters squandered the hard earned possession by their poor ball handling.

CR surged into the lead in the third minute when off a second phase move they set the three-quarters in motion and winger Nishan de Silva put the finishing touches to the move by falling over for an unconverted try by the left-corner flag.

Four minutes later the airmen reduced the deficit when fly-half Chanaka Chandimal fired across a 30-metre penalty. In the 19th minute off a second phase move CR flanker Danushka Perera slung out a pass to centre Niroshan Karunanayake who burst through to touch down under the posts. Dev Anand added the extra points to make it 12-3.

In the 24th minute off another second phase move CR flanker Pavithra Fernando crashed through for a try by the left corner flag. Dev Anand missed the conversion and CR led 17-3 at ‘lemons’.

In the 22nd minute of the second half off a five-metre line out CR No. 8 Dushanth Lewke powered his way to score by the right corner flag. Sheriff missed the conversion. (CR 22-3) Two minutes before the final whistle CR won a 10-metre line out and set the three-quarters in motion and centre Niroshan Karunanayake burst through once again to score under the posts. Mohamed Sheriff made no mistake with the conversion and CR ran out winners by 29-3. Referee Priyantha Guneratne.