Commander’s Cup Rugby first leg CH edge out Air Force in thriller

• CH & FC 23 points
• Sri Lanka Air Force 21 points

By Shamseer Jaleel

CH & FC settled late but kicked off the activation of club rugby by edging out Sri Lanka Air Force by 23 points (2 tries, 2 conversions, 3 penalties) to 21 points (2 tries, 1 conversion, 3 penalties) win in their first leg of the Commander’s Cup 2021 rugby encounter which concluded at Ratmalana yesterday. At the short breather, CH & FC led 13/6. The game broke the deadlock of 17 months of starvation of club rugby in the country after the last game being played in February 2019 which was the Inter-Club League encounter. Both teams took time to settle but it was the hosts who settled in at lightning speed. Ball handling of both teams was in good shape but the speed of the game never hit the peak as expected, with players returning to rugby after a long lay-off. CH took time but once they settled they looked the better outfit on the field. Midway in the second half Air Force hit back through two tries and made a late entry into the game. In fact, they led 21/20 with a minute to go but it was former Peterite Theuka Nanayakkara who put over a beautiful long-range penalty to seal the win in the first leg for the CH outfit. He contributed 11 points for the winning team. Fo r CH, O m a l k a Gunarat n e, Thenuka Nanayakkara, Wajid Fahmy and Janidu Dilshan played well; while for the losers, Prakrama Ratnayake, Nuwan Perera and Gayantha Iddamalgoda played their hearts out for the forces. Gayantha Iddamalagoda drew first blood for the Air Force outfit with a penalty kick at goal. It took only another five minutes for the CH & FC outfit to reply when their scrum half Sudam Sooriyarachchi scored for the visitors. Thenuka Nanayakkara added the extra 2 points to take a 7/3 lead. Soon afterwards Air Force reduced the gap through another Iddamalgoda penalty. CH centre Thenuka Nanayakkara who was in sparkling form in his kicks put another two more penalties to take the lead 13/6 at the short breather. After the short breather, CH scored through Sudam Sooriyarachchi through his second try. Nanayakkara added the extras. Air Force hit back through their hooker Prakram Ratnayake’s try. Air Force hit back again through a forward’s rush try scored through and converted by Iddamalgoda to reduce the lead 18/20. Iddamalgoda put over yet another penalty for the home team to take the lead 21/20. But joy was short-lived for the home team as Thenuka Nanayakkara put over the winning penalty for the visitors on stroke of full time. Re f e r e e : I s h a n k a Abeysinghe Hats off to Air Force l e d by Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana and Air Force Rugby Chairman Subash Jayathilake for organising this event with the support of Ministry of Health and Ministry of Sports.