The well drilled CR outfit led by Anuradha Dharmathilake made their intentions clear by easily beating Army 32 points to 3, at Havelock park on Saturday. CR fielded a very young side with several of the CR stalwarts on the bench. CR’s dominance without the seasoned campaigners augers well for the future of CR rugby.

Mohammed Sheriff opened scoring for CR by slicing his way through the Army defense. He converted the Try himself to make it 7-0. With eight minutes to go for the short whistle Sheriff converted an easy penalty to put CR ahead by 10- point to nil. Then came what we could term as a gift try for CR. An Army defender dropped the ball right in front of our right winger Dinesh Kumara who I thought had a grin on his face when he collected the ball, scored under the posts for Sheriff to oblige with the conversion. CR 17 Army 0 at the lemons.

During the second half it was Army’s turn to score first. Kapila Knowlton reduced the lead by converting a penalty in front of the posts. From this point Army started attacking but the CR defense held strong. During the latter stages of the second half Ashan Costa in his first season at CR made his mark by scoring 2 tries and last year’s Kingswood captain who played as Number 8 scored his first try at club level. These three tries ensured that we won by a comfortable margin of 32 points to 3. Last years kicking woes seem to continue with Sheriff missing all three conversions another are we lacked were the scrums.

The first match of the season has ended and lots of work needs to be done before we can lay claim to the coveted League trophy. Coach Laga and the Rugby management team have several areas to concentrate on before we meet the big boys. A good rugby outfit will do the basics right but if we are to become the best then we need to play with flair and consistency. Hope as the season progresses we will see cohesive rugby being played by this young CR outfit. Well done boys and all the best for the season.

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