Clifford Cup Knockouts – Quarter Finals review

Police Vs Air Force

CH Vs Army

QF1 : CR & FC qualified to the Semis as a result of Kandy SC pulling out of the tourney.

QF2 : Police vs Air Force – 28 Feb:

Although the Knockouts curtain raiser witnessed a shallow turnout, the competition was extremely intense to a point that most didn’t even think of blinking until the ball in play became dead. It was a high-octane pendulum swinger with both teams trying to dominate proceedings in the first half, which gave rise to a neck-to-neck race, which was just perfect for a knockout encounter.

Although the scores were tied at 17-all at the breather, Police showed a few shortcomings making Air Force the better performing team in the former half. The Cops appeared too fancy to chase down deep kicks that are usually meant to gain territory; perhaps the actual intent was to make the opposition run the ball repeatedly, and get them worn out by the second half? Other than for the Centre’s and the Wingers, the Police Backs were not seen to be advancing much with the ball, hence were primarily used to pass it out. With this limitation, they should have used their effective Forwards to get well inside the opposition’s 22 before feeding the Ball out to their Backs; instead, they passed them out way too early every time, often way back at the 40 m mark. Thus, most open spaces were closed by the time the Centre’s received the ball, and further tightened as they approached the 22. In addition, Police conceded 7 penalties and lost 3 lineouts while throwing in the Ball, which made the Airmen seem clearly airborne in the first half.

When everyone expected the intensity to continue into the second half, both teams decided to perform Sri Lankan ritualistic exorcisms for whatever reason, making the latter half thoroughly subpar and frustrating for the spectators. Although Police attacked fiercely, their handling and other errors prevented them from scoring multiple times. They managed to maintain their penalty and unforced handling error rates flawlessly, while still being shy of chasing down their kicks. One of their clearance kicks from inside their 22 resulted in a try-out of subsequent phases, because it wasn’t chased by anyone. The Police Forwards were much superior to their opponents, but unfortunately weren’t utilised optimally from a tactical perspective. The Cops lost another scoring opportunity by opting for a scrum, off a penalty offered around the opposition’s 22, instead of choosing to kick to touch and then using their Forwards to maul the attack. They also lost several other scoring chances during their onslaughts owing to 7 passing errors, and 2 overstretched touch kicks off penalties, with a few of them proving pivotal.

With Mountains of errors by Police in the second half, it was the Air Marshals’ game to lose, and in fact, it was quite impossible for them to. Police being unsettled and wavering, paved the way for lawlessness, as AF conceded 11 penalties in the latter half to shoot down almost all of their attacking prospects, and to hand the victory over to the opposition. 

Result: Police beat Air Force 29-27

QF3 : Havelock vs Navy – 29 Feb:

Havelock SC submerged the Marines in a one-sided affair to qualify for the Semis.

Result: Havelock beat Navy 55-5

QF4 : CH vs Army – 1 Mar:

CH turned up revamped and rejuvenated with a positive mind-set to play a tidy game of Rugby and shatter any hopes the Soldiers had of edging them out in this QF. Their defence that has been slightly but consistently deteriorating in recent games has been polished once again to shine, and to curtail the damages caused by the ever ambitious and committed Backs of the Troops. The Hockey Club’s Rugby game stats were quite impeccable with just four unforced handling errors, although one of those deprived them of a certain Try scoring opportunity, just 5 m away from the finish line. 

While the Platoon attacked with determination from the word go, up until the last second of the game, they ended up mostly chasing their opponent’s tally, due to a number of reasons. First and foremost, CH’s rush defence combined with their superior tackling didn’t give the Troops much scope to advance as they pleased. Therefore, the Army had to frequently manipulate their opponents into opening gaps, and then used their quick and crafty sprinters to infiltrate them. However, seven unforced handling errors in the first half didn’t help further their cause. Though they conceded only three penalties in the first half, one needless ‘side entry’ offence early on in the game, that could have been easily avoided, enabled the opposition to touchdown.

Although Army excelled in Ball handling post Lemons, their infringements accumulated to a total of eight in the second half, making it impossible for effective offensives; unfortunately for them, a few penalties were erroneously added to their tally as well. To add insult to injury, they overshot three penalty touch kicks in the whole game, losing 3 more chances to attack from close proximity to CH’s 22. On one occasion in which they managed to kick into the 22 touchline, they lost the lineout while throwing the Ball in.

Although Army’s Rugby sense and spontaneous decision making have improved tremendously during the season, they still have some skills that require perfection, and a little bit of luck for them to start winning consistently.

Result: CH beat Army 35-27