Thrilling contests this weekend at Dialog Inter Club Rugby tourney

By Shamseer Jaleel 

Rugby will be at its best when the Sailors host the defending champions, Kandy Sports Club in their Dialog Inter Club rugby encounter which will be worked off at Welisara this weekend. Sailors after their very good performance in tandem are occupying the number 2 slot ahead of Havies who lost the grip with the drawn game against the Cops last weekend. 

Air Force hold the edge over Cops 

Air Force producing some quality rugby in the 2nd round, already pumped up after their win against the Soldiers, will be the favoured team to beat the Cops. Even if Air Force win the next couple of matches they will not have a chance to improve in their ranking from number 7 one ahead of the Police outfit. Seelagama, Iddamalgoda and Charith Seneviratne are their standout players this season. They were unfortunate to lose their Head Coach Ronny Ibrahim to CH & FC this season, which was also a major setback for the lads from Ratmalana. Shamly Nawas will need to pull out a miracle performance in order to come out on the winning side for the Cops. They have two drawn games this season, one against CH and the other in the last encounter against the Havies. Wajid Fahmy, Sandesh Jayawickrema are their best players this season but as a unit they are still to click. Air Force are favoured to pull it off. 

Referee Priyantha Gunaratne 

Havies vs. CR traditional encounter 

Park Club will hold a slight edge when they confront their traditional rivals, CR & FC. Havies already lost out on their number 2 position to the Sailors and are at number 3 at present by a close margin of one single point. CR having lost back to back games to Kandy and Navy will be all out to do well here. Meanwhile Park Club will depend on Dulaj Perera, Sharo Fernando, Skipper Muller, Nison Perera and Madushanka to perform well. CR will depend on the broad shoulder of Omalka Gunarante who has been outstanding this season on attack as well in defence plus leading the forwards. Tharinda Ratwatte’s form is a big worry for the Longdon Place Club; despite being such an outstanding player he has lacked consistency. His town mates Kavindu Perera, Reza Rafaideen and Sahsan Mohamed will all need to be at their peak in this encounter. On form the Park Club should pull this off, but just. 

Referee Priya Suranga 

Kandy should be home safe 

Unbeaten Kandy will travel down to Colombo for the second last time this season when they confront the Sailors who are dishing out champagne rugby this season. Though they lost out on a few players to CH & FC, Skipper Danushka Perera, Dulanjan Wijesinghe and Thilina Weerasinghe are all in peak form. Thilina Weerasinghe’s accuracy in kicking will be vital and the difference between the two sides. Kandy will be out in full force with the powerful three quarter line being threatening at any given time with ball on attack. Ranjan, Dharmapala, Wilwara, Fazil, Lavanga and Nigel are unstoppable. Their only worry could be the scrum half position with Sooriyabandara being slow in his passes which puts the three quarters under pressure. Forwards they have Buwanka Udangamuwa, Yakoob Ali, Sayuru Anthony and Dimithri Wijesinghe being omnipresent this season. Nigel Ratwatte will need to be at his best in place kicking which will very likely to keep the star full back Thilina Wijesinghe taking the field in the later half. They have signed up with former Antonian and UAE player, Imad Riyal but it remains to be seen if he will be fit for the next season since he underwent an operation last week. On form Kandy should be home in a close game but a bonus point is questionable for Kandy. Since this encounter is a highly contested one Sri Lanka Referees Society had decided to bring a Singapore referee to officiate at this game plus another one on Sunday. 

Referee Charlie Brown (Singapore) 

CH & FC should hand off the Soldiers

CH & FC after their outstanding performance in Kandy last weekend will be all out to improve in their ranking when they confront the Soldiers who have lost focus in round 2. They were occupying number 4 at the end of round 1 and have now been pushed down to number 6 with some disastrous performances in the later round. Lee Keegale, Lee brothers, Sathya Ranathunge, Heshan Maduranga and Sajith Saranga being on top form. Yoshitha Rajapaksa is at his best displaying quality rugby leading the forwards this season. For the Soldiers their Head Coach Nilfer Ibrahim will need to do some black magic to overcome the Colombo 7 club. Gayan Salinda their full back will play a major part in kicking plus players such as Rizvi and Ashoka Jayalal and skipper Senanayake will need to be on top of their games in order to do a miracle here. But on form CH should be home easily.

Referee Charlie Brown (Singapore)