New Zealand referee Garratt Williamsons to handle CR & FC Kandy match

Friday, 12 December 2014 02:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel Rugby will be at its best when the high riding Kandy SC (with 4 consecutive wins) lock horns with CR & FC at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium on December 14. This will be Kandy SC’s last home match in the first round. The game will be a vital game for both teams in order to stay in contention for the Inter Club league this year. Kandy SC’s life started in 1992 when rugby promoter, former CR & FC and Royal scrum half Malik Samarawickrema moved to Kandy in order to support the club which until then had never won a single trophy despite existing for more than 100 years. From then onwards Kandy won both the League and Knock-out a number of times in tandem till recently when Navy SC won.

This CR and Kandy encounter will be one of the vital games for the CR & FC Head Coach Imthisam Marrikar. He played rugby at Trinity, CR & FC and ended his rugby career at Kandy SC. He will be up against his old club in this week-end’s match. CR & FC at present have lost two games - one close encounter against the Sailors and the other against an unpredictable Police SC. The “Red Shirts” have some outstanding players in their ranks with two New Zealand players plus some local talent such as Kanchana Ramanayake, Ishan Noor and Lochana Hettiarachchi playing for the Longdon Place club. Kandy SC will be led by Sean Wijesinghe with some outstanding three quarter line. They have Fazil Marija, Oscar Ouma, Pradeep Liyanage, Anurudha Wilwara, Gayan Weeraratne, Lavanga Perera. Nigel Ratwatte will occupy the full back position. Roshan Weeraratne will be operating from the base of the scrum. Roshan, playing at his peak, is one of the best defenders of the oval ball game. This encounter will be refereed by New Zealander Garratt Williamsons who is an experienced referee having officiated in Super 15 matches (In New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) and ITM Cup matches. He will also meet and assess all leading referees in Sri Lanka over the next few days at Havelock’s SC. This week’s matches will start with one of the hotly contested encounters between the defending champions Navy SC and Army SC at the Race Course grounds on December 13. Navy SC led by Yoshitha Rajapakse will be up against the Soldiers who have some talented overseas players. Navy too have outstanding players such as Sharo Fernando, Srinarth Sooriyabandara, and Reza Mubarak in their ranks. Army has players such as Sri Lanka Youth skipper Randika Alwis, Shazan Mohamed and Prince Chamara. Garratt Williamsons will handle this key encounter. On the same day Sri Lanka Air Force will host the Hambantota Sharks at Ratmalana. Two lowly placed teams with the Down South outfit registering one win against CH & FC should pull it off. According to reliable sources, Air Force have also brought in three overseas players from Fiji. Dharmapala Nimal will handle this game. The Police SC and CH & FC encounter which will be played on Sunday (December 140 will be handled by Irshard Cader. The Cops should have the edge over their opponents.