Navy SC survived a fierce CR & FC challenge to keep their unbeaten tag intact in a thrilling game at Longden place when hosts went down fighting 31 points to 27.
CR & FC stand-off Rimzie Jamaldeen kicked off the most anticipated game of the week amidst thousands of Navy & CR supporters on a perfect day for open rugby. Navy SC’s tireless flanker Dhanushka ‘Gertha’ Perera showed he is one of the best flankers going around Sri Lanka presently when he pounced on a CR player in a ruck to not let him release the ball to get a penalty in kickable range but Navy full back Nuwan Hettiarachchi missed the uprights.
CR & FC drew first blood in the 3rd minute of the game when CR wing three quarter Hashan Maduranga chased down an intelligent chip kick by Rahul De Silva to score an unconverted try. ( Navy 00 – CR 05 )
Navy SC comprising of superstars of Sri Lankan rugby showed they have some gas when they were dominant in open play. Dinusha Chathuranga scored his 1st try of the match in the 9th minute of the game to level the scores. Nuwan Hettiarachchi missed the conversion. ( Navy 05 – CR 05 )
Nuwan Hettiarachchi missed another opportunity in the 18th minute to put Navy into the lead when his penalty attempt gazed past the posts. After the miss from Nuwan, CR’s restart from their own 22’ meter line paved the way to the strong Fijian center Vata Jone Avokia to touch down under the posts after he found space in CR defense. Nuwan Hettiarachchi had no problem with the kick. ( Navy 12 – CR 05 )
Rimzie Jamaldeen had the kicking duties for CR as their ever reliable Rizah Mubarak was injured last week and had to sit out of this crucial encounter. Rimzie missed a difficult 40 meter penalty in the 23rd minute but CR showed their dominance in line outs when Dilanka Perera, Dushanth Lewke and Hasthika Bandaranayake were superb in line outs and CR worked their rolling maul perfectly in the 30th minute to help Dushanth Lewke score from back of the strong CR rolling maul to bring down the deficit. Rimzie Jamaldeen missed the conversion.
( Navy 12 – CR 10 )
CR & FC defended the marauding Navy attack but they came to the lead in the 36th minute when Hasthika Banadaranayake barged over to score under the posts after counter attacking inside Navy territory. Rimzie Jamaldeen bisected the posts to the joy of CR fans as referee Aruna Rankothge blew the half time whistle with CR hanging on to their 5 point lead.
Half Time – Navy 12 : CR 17
After the lemons, both teams had different game plans and Navy leveled the scored in the 45th minute when Nuwan Hettiarachchi sprinted nearly 75 meters after Suranga Pushpakumara broke CR defense from their own try line. Nuwan Hettiarachchi missed a difficult conversion. ( Navy 17 – CR 17)
Navy kept attacking the CR defense with their strong ball carriers and Mateaki Kafatolu playing in their No.8 position showed he can play even in the back line when he shrugged off few defenders to score under the posts in the 50th minute to put Navy into the lead again. Nuwan Hettiarachi added the extra points. ( Navy 24 – CR 17 )
Va’a Lafaele was yellow carded in the 53rd minute but CR kept their faith and strongly believed they can cause an upset when they made Navy do errors at crucial times and Rimzie Jamaldeen cut down the deficit in the 55th minute when he put over a 35 meter penalty. ( Navy 24 – CR 20 )
The most controversial moment of the evening was when Dinusha Chathuranga was awarded a try in the 63rd minute. The chaos started on the CR 22 when referee Rankothge blew his whistle after seeing a knock forward by Navy SC seconds before Chaturanga touched down in goal. The referee then on the word of the assistant referee awarded the try to Navy SC. Rankothge showed the depth the refereeing standards have been plunged to in Sri Lanka of late when he in fact reversed his own decision. In layman’s terms the try was scored after the referee had stopped play which is a blatant mistake on the part of the officials. Nuwan Hettiarachchi converted superbly. (Navy 31 – CR 20 )
CR tried their very best to find a point scoring opportunity as the game progressed into the final few minutes with CR behind 11 points and their play maker Wishwamithra Jayasinghe back from a knee injury turned around the ball from a Navy mistake to touch down to cut down the deficit in the 77th minute. Rimzie Jamaldeen converted. ( Navy 31 – CR 27 )
With only a minute remaining, Navy had to defend as they had to defend their lives in the last minute but CR could not get away from the strong Navy defense line as referee Aruna Rankothge blew the long whistle to end a thrilling encounter.
Few decisions by the referees was very poor during the whole 80 minutes but CR & FC fought gallantly against the strong Navy SC team who survived another day to held onto the lead in the standings.
Full Time – Navy 31 : CR & FC 27
