Rugby will it be at its best, come this evening and it is the final show-down in the Sri Lankan Rugby Calendar. What more could you ask for when the two top outfits -- Kandy Sports Club (defending Champions) and Navy Sports Club lock horns for the custody of the Caltex Clifford Cup at the Bogambara Stadium up in Kandy. Kick off scheduled at 4.30 pm.
Fazil Marija - Kandy skipper |
Sumedha Malewana - Navy captain
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The birth of Clifford Cup was way back 99 years ago in 1911 when Lady Clifford, wife of Sir Hugh Clifford, the Acting Governor of Ceylon, presented the cup to be played in her honour. Later in 1950, the Central Province Rugby Football Union (CPRFU) opened the competition to all the clubs and a wealth of talent was mined in fiercely contested games. Havelocks and CR&FC proved to be the winners of the cup most times.
Navy SC came to the finals on two occasions in earlier years once in 1976 and the other in 1989. In 1976 they lost to Havies under Ilex Perera. In 1989 the Sailors were led by Late Parakrama Samaraweera went down to CR & FC when Shah Dole executed a neat drop goal to take the Clifford Cup to Longdon Place.
Kandy SC first won the Clifford Cup in 1992 under Maurice Joachim. Winning of trophies became a hobby for the Upcountry Club who won League and Clifford Cup knock out competitions on 16 occasions after the turn around of the club 18 years ago. Surprisingly a club which counts more than 100 years of existence never won a trophy before 1992. For the record CR & FC have won the Clifford Cup on 15 occasions.
Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club made a sensational entry into the Clifford Cup final this year with a stunning 19-12 win over the much fancied CR and FC. After the game was dead-locked at 12 points a piece Navy scrum half Suranga Pushpakumara dummied the entire CR & FC defense to touch down under the posts. Earlier in the quarter finals they edged out Army Sports Club.
Kandy, on the other side of the coin, was down to play Havelocks but the Park Club pulled out at the last moment. In the semi finals the Upcountry Club edged out Sri Lanka Air Force 27-23. The game was marred by unwarranted play by both sides… going for the man instead of the ball.
So it is a fitting battle for supremacy where Navy SC hold the edge with their forwards while defending champions Kandy SC has the best three quarter line which is virtually the national side. Earlier in the season Kandy beat Navy in the first round game and later Navy edged the Champions at Welisara by a mere point. So it is sweet revenge for both sides to get the better of the other.
It was the Navy forwards who paved the way for most of their victories this season through power-packed displays. Skipper Sumedha Malewana has been a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play ably supported by Piumal Manchanayake, Kalana Amarasinghe, Rohitha Rajapaksa and Hamza Hassen. Their pack leader former Sri Lanka Youth skipper Namal Rajapaksa has been outstanding in his attacking play. He led the pack and his decision making was spot on either to work the line or go solo.
Kandy SC will be at full strength for this game and have got a very good halves combination of Roshan Weeraratne and Fazil Marija who have clicked well. Both former Kingswoodians have run circles around most of the clubs. Kandy SC skipper Fazil Marija will be a heavily marked man. Centres Chamara Vithanage, Gayan Weeraratne are hard runners who are capable of breaching the sailors defense but the biggest threat to Navy will be posed by winger Sanjeeva Jayasinghe and Mohamed Sheriff with his powerful runs down the flank with full back Saliya Kumara having the ability to form the overlap.
Navy skipper Sumedha Malewana speaking to the Sunday Times said: “We will go flat out to win this game. This is a do-or-die game for us. There are more than 12 players from Kandy rugby playing schools and this ground is like playing at home. Further our best side will play today and Yoshitha Rajapaksa too will be back in the island for the starting line up for the big one. Former Thomian schoolboy Shaveen Kapuwatte will make his debut in club rugby for us”.
Fazil Marija Kandy SC skipper said: “We are going to win. There is nothing else. Going with the best side we want to end the season on a high note and be Triple Champions once more.
Teams:
Navy SC- Suranga Swarnatilleke, Piumal Manchanayake, Hamza Hassen, Kalana Amarasinghe, Sumedha Malewana (Capt), Yoshitha Rajapakse, Rohitha Rajapakse, Namal Rajapakse, Suranga Pushpakumara, Dev Anand, Shaveen Kapuwatte, Chula Susantha, Nuwan Hettiarachchi, Samantha Lakshan and Eranda Weerakkody.
Kandy SC- Eranga Swarnatilleke, Anura Walpola, Kishore Jehan, Senaka Bandara, Buddhika Thalagampola, Kasun De Silva, Aravinda Udangamuwa, Sean Wijesinghe, Roshan Weeraratne, Fazil Marija (Capt), Chamara Vithanage, Anuruddha Willawara, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Mohamed Sheriff and Saliya Kumara
Referee-Scott Herbert
(Arabian Gulf). |
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