CH could pose a big threat to Kandy

S. M. Jiffrey ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr.

The Defending Caltex League champions Kandy Sports Club should have no difficulty in chalking up their fifth win for the season when they take on CH and FC in their first round fixture of the Caltex Rugby League tournament which will be played at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium in Kandy today with the kick off at 4.30 p.m.

News from Kandy is that they will be at near full strength with only centre Gayan Weeraratne and hooker Anuranga Walpola being doubtful starters.

Other than this duo the rest of the players from this star studded will be available with valuas combination of scrum half Saliya Kumara and stand off Fazil Marija who is the best in the clubs today will be seen in action for the first time at Nittawela. Saliya too was in the injury list missing the first three home games but had played for a short period in the last match against Police and had not shown any ill effects of the injury.

Apart from their Kandy's beat division comprising the hard running Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, skipper Pradeep Liyanage, Mohammed Sheriff and the longest serving Sameera Silva with full back Radhika Hettiarachchi forming the overlap should punch holes in their opponents defence with scorching runs. Utility player Mohammed Sheriff has still not shorn the excellent form which displayed for the red shirts last season and one could only hope that he will come good in this match.

CH & FC started the season on a fine note with two good wins but an even headed the table of points but have slipped down since losing two matches in a row against Navy and Army.

On paper CH & FC have good side with some experienced players but they have not clicked in their last two matches. They will be led by Ashala Perera and will have in their fold stand off Sajith Mallikkarachchi who returned to Colombo this season. He is a very hard tackler capable of stopping anyone in the tracks.

In addition to this duo CH & FC have some good ruggerites in old Trinitian Sathya Ranatunga, old Antonian Wasaba Herath, young Bilal Hassan, Dilanka Wijesekera, Jayantha Ranaweera and this set of forwards could match Kandy's `eight'. Their halves combination of Tuan Shamrock and Sajith Mallikarachchi is good. Their back division will comprise Lakala Perera, Shane Dissanayake, Rushika Fernando and the experienced Ajit Upawansa and Milinda Jayasinghe.

If CH & FC could put up a good fight, then a gruelling battle is on the cards.