By A Special Sports Correspondent
Members of the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club (CR&FC) did the century-old institute proud by winning the prestigious Clifford Cup on Sunday (March 5) after beating Navy Sports Club (Navy SC) in the final at Race Course Grounds in Colombo.
The ‘Red Shirts’ led by scrum-half Kavindu de Costa laid their hands on the Clifford Cup after 17 long years; having last won it back in 2006.
CR&FC looked determined from the opening whistle, but the Navy stood strong and seemed impenetrable for a long time till the Longden Place club found a way to crack open the ‘Sailors’ defence. Though ball handling wasn’t sharp by both teams the game turned out to be a ding-dong battle right to the very end. CR&FC romped home as the winner after collecting their points through two tries, a conversion and four penalties while Navy responded with six well-taken penalties. The final score read 24 points to 18 in favour of CR&FC.
Kandy SC was conspicuous with their absence, but then they chose to be left out of the knockout tournament citing logistic reasons. The other side which chose to be excluded from this knockout tournament was CH&FC. Critics would have perhaps wondered whether the voids left by these two teams could have been filled if there was a strong B Division tournament and a winner and a runner-up were found in that lower division rugby tournament. This is the method adopted in schools rugby in order to find a solution when A Division rugby teams pull out at the last minute from the knockout stage of the season.
Anyway the pull-out by these two teams did damage to the tournament because two other sides in the quarter finals stage of the tournament received byes as a result; thereby losing out on a golden opportunity to stretch out their limbs and also gain vital match practice in the game of rugby union. Sri Lanka’s club players when compared to domestic players of other countries play fewer rugby matches during any given season.
Navy SC had some big fellows and looked like running away with the game when they walked on to the field prior to the kick-off. But these players, especially the forwards, were lacking in the finer points of rucking and mauling. They were so eager to cross the line, but couldn’t; this was despite coming a sniffing distance close to the CR goal line.
Many thought that CR&FC deserved to win this game because they were the only team in the final which was able to produce tries. Chathura Senewiratne produced the first touchdown in the first half and ensured the ‘Red Shirts’ went into halftime leading 10 points to 9.
Navy were always with a chance of pulling off this game. This was because of having two place fabulous kickers in Samuel Maduwantha and Thilina Weerasinghe. Maduwantha was successful in getting the ball through the uprights when kicking over two penalties from a distance of over 50 metres. That distance hasn’t been cleared by a Sri Lanka club rugby player for a long time in domestic rugby and merits mention here in this column. One player who could do that with ease during the yesteryears of rugby was Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club player Tony Wimalasuriya. Interestingly Wimalasuriya was a soccer player and picked up the oval-shaped ball only after joining the ‘fling force’.
In the second half, CR&FC pulled ahead with three penalties shared between Senewiratne and Thenuka Nanayakkara. Navy were sharp but played in patches, and never turned pressure into points other than with the kicking boots of the two place kickers.
CR&FC were leading 19-18 a few minutes from the end, but did well to seal the game when hooker Lahiru Pavithra barged over for a try following a line out won by the forwards. The conversion was missed. But that never really mattered because coach Dushanth Lewke’s players were safely ahead by six points; not forgetting that the clock on the scoreboard too was smiling at them during the dying few seconds left in the game.
Nippon Paint General Manager Nemantha Abeysinghe was the chief guest at the finals.