CR won't have it easy against Air Force

The Ceylonese Rugby and Football Club which failed to live upto expectations this year finishing fourth in the Caltex 'A' Division League will face the tough task of overcoming Air Force Sports Club in their Caltex Clifford Cup quarter-final match at the Royal Sports Complex today.

Injuries to key players and lack of a reliable place kicker resulted in the Red Shirts losing five matches in 10 outings in the 'A' Division League and will confront a confident Air Force outfit which will be hell-bent on avenging the 21-27 defeat suffered in the league match by toppling CR and FC today.

CR and FC prop forward Henry Terrence and flanker Sharo Fernando who missed most of the matches due to injury make a welcome return to the side. Terrence will bind down in the front row along with Double International Dunstan de Silva while Sharo Fernando will play in the third row alongside Ishan Noor and skipper Dushanth Lewke.

In the absence of regular scrum half Srinath Sooriyabandara who is on the injured list Josephian schoolboy Piyum Jayasinghe will operate from the base of the scrum and will pair off with Mohamed Sheriff. While Nigel Ratwatte who returned to the side after a long lay off due to injury in the last match will occupy a centra berth alongside Lasintha de Costa. Dashing winger Vishwamithra Jayasinghe who missed all three matches of the second round due to injury makes a welcome return to the team by manning one wing.

CR and FC - Henry Terrance, Anuja Perera, Dunstan de Silva, Shehan Dimitri, Hasthika Bandaranayake, Sharo Fernando, Ishan Noor, Dushanth Lewke (captain), Piyum Jayasinghe and Mohamed Sheriff, Hashan Gunaratne, Nigel Ratwatte, Lasintha de Costa, Vishwamithra Jayasinghe, Ashan de Costa.

Air Force - Jayantha Ranaweera, Lahiru Udayanga, Saumya Silva, Shenal Dias, Ranga Perera or Prasanna Soysa, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Wasamba Senarath, Sasanka Ariyaratne, Dilan de Zoysa and Chanaka Chandimal, Mithun Hapugoda, Radhika Hettiarachchi, Migara Wijeratne, Cherith Seneviratne, Milinda Jayasingha (captain).

Referee: Nizam Jamaldeen.