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Friday Apr 26, 2024
Friday, 13 December 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shamseer Jaleel
Defending league champions Kandy Sports Club will be under pressure to perform well when they confront an unbeaten Army outfit at Nittawela.
Although Kandy won both their matches against Air Force and Navy, they looked off colour in their last encounter, with them seemingly in constant danger of losing the game.
Police, who are doing really well this season, will be hunting for their second win in three games when they confront Navy away in Welisara. The Cops, who almost upset CR&FC, did well to beat Havelocks. They are blessed with Fijian Emosi, who is a seasoned club rugby campaigner in Sri Lanka. He has split the opposition defence to pieces on many occasions. The Cops are well supported by the Perera brothers and Chandimal in the kicking department.
Meanwhile, Navy, who staged a bold comeback against Kandy in the hills, will be looking for their first win but it will be a tough task. Radeesha Seneviratne, Musheen Faleel, Gihan Perera and Thilina Weerasinghe are the main weapons in their outfit. The in-form Cops should make it home with a win.
CR&FC will be all out to continue its winning streak and unbeaten record when they meet the Air Force outfit away in Ratmalana.
Reza Mubarak, who crossed over from Havelocks, did remarkably well in their game against CH. Led by Omalka Gunaratne, the team features Kevin Dixon, Reza Rafaideen and Supun Warunakulasuriya who are all out to help CR recover lost pride and gain a chance to reclaim the league after several decades. Meanwhile, Air Force will depend heavily on Gayantha Iddamalgoda who is a reliable placekicker. Their forwards played well but in patches. CR should be home with an easy win.
CH&FC will be looking for their first win this season when they confront the park club. They will miss the services of their skipper Rohitha Rajapaksa, who is in China with the national Under-19 rugby team. Madushanka, Sudam Sooriyarachchi, Nishon Perera and Hirantha Perera will no doubt play a major role. Meanwhile, the park club is without any big names. They drew with the soldiers in their first game and then lost to CR&FC in their second encounter.
Meanwhile, Havelocks won their first encounter against Navy but surprisingly lost out to the Cops in the second game. They will look to Mithun Hapugoda, who will be supported by Naveen Heenakankanmge, Lasindu Karunathilake and Prince Chamara, to guide them through. A close encounter is expected with neither team having an edge over the other.
Defending champions Kandy will be playing their third game at Nittawela. Although they won both their matches, they were unimpressive in their last outing against the sailors. They edged to victory in a close contest which was dominated by the sailors in the latter half.
Once again they will miss out on the services of Ranjan, Richard, Ali and Roshan. Led by Nigel, who is supported by Tharinda, Lavanga, Oshan and Thilina, they are no pushovers. Their forwards too are solid with Sayuru Anthony, Shehan Pathirana and Buwanaka Udangamuwa all top-class players.
Meanwhile, the Army outfit, which drew level with CH, beat Air Force in their last game. They have Manoj Bandara, Mohamed Rizvi, Thusitha Senanayake and Gayan Salinda in their outfit. This could be a close encounter but Kandy should be able to continue their unbeaten run before commencing their most difficult stretch of four consecutive away matches in Colombo.
Matches
