Shashan takes CR to Clifford Cup semifinals

Kandy hooker Damith Dissanayake about to pass the ball with support coming in from Fazil Marija

By Shamseer Jaleel

CR&FC edged out Sri Lanka Air Force 36-33 in a tense battle in one of the quarterfinal rugby encounters of the Clifford Cup knockout competition played at the Racecourse rugby grounds. 

Defending champions Kandy, Havelocks and Army also booked their semifinal berths in the tournament.

CR&FC flew into the final four after a magnificent try in injury time from former Trinity winger Shashan Mohamed.

CR, with the new coaching staff led by Botheju and Mustaq Mohamed, have lived up to expected standards with two wins in their last two outings, beating Police in the league and Air Force in the knockout competition. CR, who led 17-12 at halftime, will be playing Kandy in Nittawela in the first semifinal on 22 February.

Kandy run riot

Defending champions Kandy sent a strong warning to the other top teams in the Clifford Cup when they handed last-placed CH&FC a 121-3 drubbing in Nittawela last Friday. Kandy led 57-0 at halftime.

Kandy, which was fielding a second string side, gave full exposure to their bench to reward it for the commitment it has shown this season. Both wingers Richard Dharmapala and Vishwamithra Jayasinghe touched down for four tries each with Ranjan scoring a couple before he was taken out, only playing for 20 minutes of the game. Their forwards Yakoob Ali and Sayuru Anthony stood out with some solid, mobile forward performances. Though CH was fast with breakdown points they hardly got opportunities to attack.

A second half burst was too much for the cops

Havelocks booked their semifinal spot with a superb second-half burst against Police at the Racecourse rugby grounds. After having a slight edge over the cops at halftime with a 24-19 lead, the Park Club ran in eight tries to notch up a final winning score of 46-26.

Navy advance to semis

Navy went through some tough times to overcome the gutsy soldiers by 35 points (5 tries, 5 conversions) to 25 points (3 tries, 2 conversions, 2 penalties) in their quarterfinal encounter played at the Racecourse rugby grounds yesterday. At halftime the sailors led 28-3.