CR by the skin of their teeth
The game went to the last wire before CR sealed a thrilling win over Navy – Pic by Amila Gamage”]
It was an enthralling encounter at the Welisara Naval Base where the crimson clad from Longdon Place had 80 minutes of nail biting before coming on top.
In reality CR and FC escaped from the jaws of defeat from the formidable Navy outfit by 27 points to 25 points in their Dialog Division ‘A’ Rugby League second round match played yesterday.
The Navy scored through three tries, two conversions and two penalties while CR managed to come on top with three converted tries and two penalties.
The Red Shirts drew first blood and scored nine minutes into the game through their young flanker Taariq Salih who is fresh out school and Prince Chamara’s boots gave CR the extra points.
The Navy battalion was quick to retaliate. They scored a penalty, a try and a conversion within the span of 10 minutes and those 10 points are accredited to the superb playing of the Navy fullback Thilina Weerasinghe. He later on added another 7 points scoring an astounding total of 20 points for the game.
Ashan De Costa of CR was able to score a try before halftime and Prince Chamara was successful in his conversion.
At lemons the scoreboard read in favour of the home team at 17- 4. Yet, CR was adamant to rise above the home team and scored an impressive try ten minutes into the second half through their number four Panduka Angammana and Prince added the extra points.
Cardinal technical fouls committed by both teams gave the opportunity for the referee the chance to hand out penalties as if it was a ‘dansala’ and the both teams made sure that they capitalized on these opportunities.
In a final attempt to thwart the efforts of the Red Shirts, Navy scored a try through Yoshitha Rajapaksa but failed to convert it.
However lady luck favoured the Longdon Place lads and they were presented with a penalty in the dying stages of the match that put them just out of reach from the claws of Navy with Prince Chamara kicking over a successful penalty.