Maduranga try helps CH win thriller against CR

By Shamseer Jaleel

CH&FC continued their good form in round two but just by one point when they edged out CR&FC 25-24 to win the Hadji Omar Trophy on offer in the encounter between these two teams. 

This was the last game for the season. Sri Lanka Sevens skipper Sudarshana Mututhanthri, crossing over from Havelocks after a short stint in New Zealand playing for an Auckland outfit, was a major source of strength for the CH outfit. This was not the first time that CH left things for the last minute but was the third time they have secured a nail-biting win.

The Red Shirts drew first blood through their skipper Kavindu Perera who scored a spectacular try which was converted by Tharinda Ratwatte.

Samuel Maduwantha was on target with a penalty kick to reduce the lead to 7-3. Muthu, turning out for CH in his debut game, was in cracking form, bursting past a few defenders before touching down to push the lead to 8-7 in favor of his team. Equally good was Omalka Gunaratne, who was omnipresent, scoring the second CR try. A Ratwatte conversion took them to 14-8. But it was short-lived as Yoshitha Rajapaksa, who has had a grand season, worked himself off a loose ball, sending Maduwantha to score and add the extras to take halftime at 15-14.

Chathura Dilshan scored next but Maduwantha continued his off form in the kicking department. A Charanka Chameera try and Ratwatte conversion took the score to 24-20 in favour of the Longden Place club. Hehsan Maduranga, who has scored many tries this season, once again waited until the last minute to knock over the winning try for his team when he brushed past Reza Rafaideen to touch down.

Army edge out Police

Army, who had a bad second round, losing ground from fourth position, finished well by edging out a much-improved Police outfit 43-36 in a tense encounter. Army, who led 31-19 at halftime, will finish the league in sixth position.Ashan Bandara (2), Dikkumbura, Manoj Bandara, Shehan Silva and Dinesh Suranga scored the tries with Gayan Salinda converting five of them and putting over a solitary penalty. Harischandra, Chandimal (2), Rasith and Lahiru scored the tries for the losers, with former Peterite Sandesh Jayawickrema converting three of them.

Half-century 

win for Sailors

Navy ended the Dialog Inter-Club League season on a high note when they beat Air Force 50-28.

Dulanjana Wijesinghe, Thilina Weerasinghe (2), Kasun De Silva (2) and Mohamed Abzal (2) scored for the sailors. 

The evergreen Thilina Weerasinghe converted six of them and put over a penalty. The former Isipathana player contributed 25 points for the winners which was half of the total points tally. For Sri Lanka Air Force, Ramdas, Manapriya and Nuwan Perera scored tries, with Charith converting two of them and putting over three penalties for the Air Force outfit.