CR & FC hold onto a close win
CR player is tackled by policmen. Pic by Priyantha Wickremaarachchi
CR & FC had to grind hard in order to record a close 17-13 win over Police SC in their opening fixture of the Dialog Rugby League 2019/2020 worked off at Longden Place yesterday. As the rain poured down throughout the course of the match, both teams struggled with ball-handling. Therefore, all the forwards had the biggest workload. The visitors put the first points on the board when Janith Chandimal bisected the posts with a brilliant 38-metre penalty kick in the third minute of the match.
However, the home team enjoyed most of the possession and territory in the first half of the match. They had plenty of scoring opportunities which they couldn’t convert into points. They were patiently building phases together which allowed outside center Janidu Dilshan to score the first try of the match in the 24th minute. Experienced Riza Mubarak added the extra points.
CR & FC, despite being in the lead, were down to 14 men with only 27 minutes on the game clock when flanker Risith Fernando was yellow-carded for tackling a player in air.
The Cops flunked a couple of try-scoring opportunities due to poor ball-handling before the half-time whistle. They were also given a kickable penalty kick which Chandimal failed to convert into points as CR & FC went into the break in the lead as scores read 7-3.
After lemons, Police played a better, structured game at the start of the second half. They perfectly executed a rolling maul in the 47th minute as hooker Rasith Silva put the Cops in the lead by touching down in the near corner.
However, Police stayed in the lead only until the 55th minute when their prop forward Lahiru Pavithra was sent to the sin-bin due to a high tackle which allowed Mubarak to put over a much-needed penalty kick.
In the final 20 minutes, both teams introduced several players from the bench to change the pace of the game. But, it was Dilshan’s clever thinking that paved the way for the second try for CR & FC as he took a quick-tap off a penalty advantage, caught the Police defense napping and freed winger Gemunu Chethiya to blitz through and score under the posts. Mubarak added the extra points to extend the lead.
Two more yellow cards in the dying stages of the match were given to two CR & FC players – Rahul De Silva and Rehan Weerakkon.
With the hosts not having their full quota of players in the park, Police scored a consolation try courtesy Sujan Kodituwakku but it was little too late as CR & FC held onto a four-point lead.
Referee – Priyantha Gunaratne