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CR run riot against hapless Havies
CR 43 Havelocks 3
By Bernie Wijesekera
CR and FC, who had to learn a lot from last week's defeat against Police SC bounced back with vengeance when the red shirts ran riot to inflict a 43 points (4 goals and 3 tries) to 3 (a penalty goal) against their traditional rivals Havelocks SC at Longdon Place yesterday. At the turn around it was 26-0.

It was one of the worst defeats suffered by the Park Club against the CR&FC. In 1996 they were beaten by the red shirts under Viraj Prasantha 57-3 at Hevelock Park. Havelocks enjoyed abundant good ball, but it was a pathetic performance all round.

Poor ball handling, aimless kicking to the waiting hands of their opponents. Former Sri Lanka fullback and Havies stalwart Shafie Jainudeen who is here on holiday said that the Havelocks should get back to their basics. They had all the opportunities, but lacked co-ordination and the red shirts exploited them to the maximum.

In yesterday's match CR made some changes to the side bringing in Asanga Rodrigo to play as fly-half and Dinuk Wijeratne to man the last line. Rodrigo from the pivotal position paired off with young Zulki Hamid. With his intelligent play he had the CR line in motion at every given turn to make gaping holes in the Havelocks defence. The red shirts back-line gave a fine display of running rugby to plant seven tries in the process.

The Havelocks forwards matched strength against strength, but the threes spilled the good ball that came their way. Fijian Siope Kapeli Ganapathy, stand-in skipper Shafie Hassan stood out.

CR&FC's Kenyan international sevena player Mwanga, wing threequarter, gave a dazzling display with his scintillating runs. He scored a try under the posts and had a big hand in two other CR tries.

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