Navy hold CR to 18-all draw

By Ranjan ANANDAPPA

Sri Lanka Navy fought back gallantly to hold CR&FC to a 18 (goal, 1 try, 2 penalties) to Navy's 18 (3 tries, 1 penalty) draw in their Caltex 'A' division League rugby encounter at Longden Place yesterday.

The sailors who were trailing by 13 points to 18 minutes before the long whistle was helped by a fine bit of work by their full back Dev Anand who fired a cross kick and Niranjan Wickremasinghe collected the ball close to the right corner of the 'CR' territory and touched down for an unconverted try. However, the reliable place kickers of either side Dev Anand for the Navy and Reza Mubarak for the 'red shirts' did not impress at all as they missed relatively easy kicks at crucial moments. Mubarak missed four penalties while Dev Anand missed the target on three occasions. This made the major difference of both sides.

CR & FC was awarded a penalty almost with the kick off, but Mubarak's kick was badly directed, then in the 13th minute another penalty was awarded that too went astray. At the half way mark in the first half Mubarak made no mistake with a kick and the 'red shirts' sprang into the lead.

Then Navy's Dev Anand started his session of misdirected kicks when he failed to find the equalizer in the 18th minute of the game. The Sailors came close to scoring through a three quarter move, but was spotted as a knock on by the referee.

CR & FC scored their first try when their skipper and Number eight Dushan Lewke broke off and evaded several defenders to touch down under the post. Mubarak added the extra points.

CR & FC lead 10/3 at the breather.

Although the major shares of honours belonged to the home club , Navy staged a fine fight back in the second half.

The Sailors lacked cohesion in their forwards and often their pack collapsed and at times was in a disarray. This prevented them from initiating any worthwhile move.

Navy, however, found their fluency for a while and touched down off a five yard scrum through their number eight Bilal Hassan by the right corner flag.

While the Sailors were trying to make a come back strongly CR & FC got the opportunity to stretch their lead when their prop forward Shehan Dimithri smothered a kick from a Navy defender and fell on the ball in the Navy goal line. Mubarak's off day as a place kicker continued and his side was denied of the much needed extra points.

The sailors once again was in contention when a 'CR' player failed to collect an up and under and winger Chula Susantha collected the ball and ran forty meters to score an unconverted try.

On this occasion Dev Anand continued his dismal kicking form by failing to add the much needed extra points for his side.

CR & FC were leading 18/13 with their full back Reza Mubarak making maximum use of a penalty. The sailors who made some daring advances in the 'CR's territory in a desperate effort for the match winning try finally managed to score off a cross kick by Dev Anand initiated by a five yard scrum for Niranjan Wickremasinghe to score unchallenged.

Piyantha Guneratne refereed.