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Police tarnish CR's unbeaten run

By M. Shamil Amit
Police came on top with a last minute penalty put over by their reliable full back Harshana Wijeweera amidst poor blowing by the referee Anil Jayasinghe who was in charge of the match to gain a cliffhanger win by 24 points (one goal, one try, four penalties) to 23 (four tries, one penalty) win over CR and FC after having conceded a 18-11 lead in the first half in their Caltex Inter-League rugby encounter played at the Police grounds yesterday.

The Longdon Place club who came into the game as favourites were given a rude shock when the Policemen made the first move in the eigth minute of the game with a penalty put over by their Fijian player and fly half half Luke Rogayawa. Luke made amends for having missed a penalty two minutes earlier. CR not to be outdone came back four minutes later to take the lead through a unconverted try scored by their centre and Kenyan player Dennis Mwanja.

The Policemen replied with another penalty put over by Rogayawa. With Police leading by a narrow margin of one point the game was hotting with either sides not willing to give in. And the red shirts succceeded when Dennis Mwanja went over for his second try of the match which was also missed the kick at post. Though Police came closer through a try by full back Harshana Wijeweera they increased their lead with a penalty put over by Halimdeen and another unconveted try by centre Mwanja with which the short whistle was blown. CR 18 Police 11

Resuming in the second half Police drew first blood again in the third minute with a peach of a try from prop forward Shantha Rohana who crept through a wall of defence to score under the post to give Harshana Wijeweera an easy conversion which leveled the score. With the game being played at a hectic pace and no quarters asked or given. Police full back Harshana Wijeweera sent his supporters wild when he gave his team the lead back by booting over a penalty. Police 21- CR 18.

Try they did but the red shirts had to be blamed as they were not playing like they did in the first half. They were unable to make any headway though the line clicked most of the time. They succeeded to take back the lead which was due to a mistake made by a Police player which gave them a five yard scrum which they made used with winger Asanga Rodrigo going over for a try and Halimdeen fluffed the conversion again that proved to be crucial.

With CR making every effort to cling on to the lead they gained, the Polcemen too were not giving in they fought every inch of the way and gained that vital penalty which was a godsend as it was right opposite the post which Harshana Wijeweera made no mistake to give them a hard fought and well earned one point victory having conceded the lead to their opponents even in the last stages.

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