Police-CR contest this weekend to be a thriller

Nippon Paint Inter Club Major Rugby League 2023/2024

By Shamseer Jaleel

Sri Lanka Air Force SC and Sri Lanka Navy SC, both beaten in their week 1 games will lock horns at Ratmalana in their game 2, looking for a win to gain their lost confidence for the team. 

Sri Lanka Air Force was handed off by the Havies while Navy SC though made a good comeback. Cops accumulated enough points in the first half to pull it off. Pick of the week game will be between the two unbeaten teams Police SC and CR and FC.

Parakrama Ratnayake will lead the Air Force outfit coached by former Kanangara player and D.S. Head Coach, Asela Deshapriya. Gayantha Iddamalgoda had a grand game for the outfit from Ratmalana who will need support from their seniors such as Sharaka Weralla and Ishara Madushan.

The Sailors are coached by Viper (jnr) Gunaratne with Thlina Weerasinghe leading the outfit. The young outfit lost more than 10 of their senior players and would need to pace out the 80 minutes of play. Dananjaya Seneviratne, Shabith Musheen and Chanaka Jayalath need to be at their best to secure their first win this season.

Two unbeaten teams so far, Police SC and CR and FC will lock horns at the Police Park with a close encounter expected from both sides.

CR, a major title contender, will be under former Peterite, Suhiru Anthony. The Red Shirts will be at full strength with players such as Adeesha Weerathunge, Eranga Ariyapala and Randy Silva joining the Longdon Place club. The young outfit simply demolished Army SC by 50 plus points and got a very young combination under Head Coach Dushantha Lewke and Manager, former Isipathana and CR and FC player, Rohan Chinthaka.

The Cops are led by Mohan Wimalarathne and veteran Mithun Hapugoda is expected to play in the latter half of the game. Mithun, Hirantha Perera and Lahiru Thilkaratne will be hard nuts to crack. Head Coach is Nilfer Ibrahim.

The Soldiers are led by former Vidyartha player, Ashan Bandara and have some good players such as,  Sudaraka Dikkumbura, Nalaka Maduranga and Chamath Fernando in their starting line-up. Shamly Nawas will be their Head Coach this season. They had a shocking start going down to CR by half a century plus points needed to come back strongly at home in Panagoda against the defending champions, Kandy SC.

Kandy SC, led by Lavanga Perera, Tharinda Ratwatte, Srinarth Sooriyabandara, Diluksha Dange and Nigel Ratwatte, top class players representing the country as well, will be hard to stop. The defending champions, Kandy SC looks a favoured team to pull off a comfortable win here. Fazil Marija is the Head Coach of the unit.

On Sunday (10 December) Havies will host their second home game at Havelock Park when they play against CH and FC under lights.

Former Royal Hooker, Azmir Fajudeen who had a grand game will once again lead the outfit. They will be coached by Saliya Kumara. Havies have some outstanding schoolboys such as Sudesh Jayawickrema (St Peter’s) and Jayathu Rajarathna (D S) for this season. Shenal Dias with his experience will help out Havies this season. Abdullah Fayis will add strength for the forwards line.

CH and FC under Avishka Lee put up a good show in the latter half, and will come firing on all cylinders and secure a win here. CH are fortunate to have Hirusha Sampath, the former Kingswoodian who occupies the full back position, and a good reader of the game. He had a grand outing against Kandy in the Central Hills but pulled out in the last 10 minutes. Ravindu Anjula Hettiarachchi and Nirosh Perera are the other stars in their outfit. The coach is Sanath Martis.