By Shamzeer Jaleel 

Defending Clifford Cup champions, Kandy Sports Club sent out a strong warning to other teams in the competition when they outclassed CH&FC by 121 points (19 tries, 13 conversions) to 3 points (1 penalty) at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium yesterday. 

At the short breather Kandy led 57/0. 

It was one way traffic from the kick-off where Kandy was too fast and superior in their professional approach towards the game. CH, who were placed last in the league, were full of freshers in their outfit and found it difficult to contain the Up Country unit. Kandy dominated proceedings combining well with their forwards and three-quarter line to display running rugby to plant 19 unanswered tries in the game. Both their wingers Vishwamithra Jayasinghe and Richard Dharmapala stood out with lightning pace moves, touching down four tries each. In forwards play once again it was Yakoob Ali and Buwanka Udangamuwa, both being omnipresent on the field. 

Kandy drew first blood in the 3rd minute of the game when their full back Thilina Wijesinghe brooked free to touch down and add the extra points. From this moment onwards, tries were flowing like rain. Vishwamithra Jayasinghe (2), Dhanushka Ranjan (2), Richard Dharmapala (2), Yakoob Ali and Chathuranga scored tries. Thilina converted 6 of those tries. 

In the second half, Kandy continued their good work and scored through, with Vishwamithra (2), Roshan Weeraratne, Buwanka Udangamuwa, Dharmapala (2), Lavanga Perera, Sooriyabandara and Jamaldeen touching down tries. Conversions were taken by Thlina Wijesinghe and Yakoob Ali. For CH&FC their, only penalty was put over by Shamry Burah. CH&FC player Anurudha Ekanayake received a red card for stamping an opponent player. This score was the highest by any team this season. 

Referee-Aruna Rankothge 

Match Commissioner-Rahuman Iqbal       

Kandy will lock horns with CR & FC in the first semi-final on 22 February at Nittawela.

CR edge out Air Force

CR booked their semi final berth when they edged out Sri Lanka Air Force by 36 points (5 tries, 4 conversions, 1 penalty) to 33 points (5 tries, 4 conversions) in their second quarter final in the Clifford Cup rugby tournament which was worked off at the Racecourse rugby grounds yesterday. 

At the short breather, the winners led 17/12. (SJ)