CR withstand CH onslaught
CH&FC delivered their most clinical performance of the ongoing SLR-MasterCard Club Rugby League to place CR&FC in a spot of bother. However the defending champions defended solidly to record a close 27-22 win at the Racecourse ground yesterday.
The Red Shirts, riding an unbeaten streak into the sixth week of the competition, demonstrated resilience, scoring four tries, two conversions, and a penalty to lead 19-10 at halftime. CH&FC, entering as underdogs, stunned the opposition with a spirited performance, even levelling the game at one stage. Despite their valiant effort, including three tries, two conversions, and a season-first drop goal from flyhalf Janith Chandimal, they succumbed to their third loss in five games.
CH&FC dished out the best performance of this season to scare CR&FC - Pic courtessy thePapare
With their underdog tag, CR may not have anticipated a few fiery and surprising moves from CH, as they scored at the beginning of both halves while keeping the game at a 22-all deadlock for more than 10 minutes in the dying stages.
CH opened scoring off a dazzling move from flanker Udesh Madushanka who braced himself a try within two minutes from the kickoff, to give flyhalf Chandimal an easy conversion and gain an early 7-0 lead. But CR was quick to response with centre Iranga Ariyapala crossing over following a brilliant run and offload from Zubair Doray in the fifth minute. Doray, who switched his usual position from fullback to flyhalf in the starting lineup, made the conversion to level the scores 7-all.
CH were handicapped to 14 men, when their skipper Janindu Dilshan was sin-binned soon after the CR try, during which CR responded with another try from flanker Adeesha Weeratunga in the ninth minute. With Doray’s conversion they expanded the lead to 14-7. With the pace slowing down CH pushed hard to breach the CR defence, and after all attempts failing to turn into points, flyhalf Chandimal fired a drop goal in the 17th minute to gain a psychological advantage.
Three minutes apart the Red Shirts took the liberty to brace an unconverted try from a series of rucks, which took the game to the halftime 19-10 in favour of the eventual winners.
A minute after the resumption skipper Dilshan took a quick tap to stun the CR defence and score an unconverted try far left to close in the gap 19-15. After failing to penetrate a tough CH defence, CR opted to take a penalty that came in their favour in the 52nd minute, with Doray putting it over and taking his team’s lead further to 22-15.
Just when it looked as if the game was under their control CR were stunned by the CH forwards, who unleashed a constant attack in set pieces to give lock Nirosh Perera the opportunity to brace a try. With replacement scrumhalf Dinesh de Silva’s conversion, the scores were levelled at 22-all by the 59th minute, a situation never anticipated by CR.
Yet the Red Shirts were desperate to break the deadlock and seal a win though all their attempts went futile until the 71st minute, when replacement winger Aaron Corera showed off the CH defence to score an unconverted try far left. What CH needed was a try to level the scores again and a conversion to seal a stunning win, but all their efforts were well clogged by a defensive CR, who recorded a 27-22 win to claim the famous Colombo 7 Derby against their traditional rivals.