Police in stunning 12-11 win over CH

Ranjeeva Seneviratne

Police Sports Club propelled by their power-packed forwards scored a stunning 12 points (one goal, one try) to 11 (one try, two penalties) win over the more fancied CH and FC in the curtain raiser of the Caltex 'A' Division League Rugby Tournament played at Police Park yesterday after leading 5-3 at the breather.

It was Police's forwards who paved the way for this victory. The Police 'eight' especially Welagedara, Nizam, Hettiarachchi, Wilson, Acharige and skipper Nilusha Fernando gave a terrific display to outplay their famed counterparts in the loose.

The line outs were shared between the Police duo of Wilson and Acharige and CH's Sanjeewa and Senarath while in the set scrums CH's Achala Perera struck a shade faster than his vis-a-vis Malith Hettiarachchi.

CH and FC were let down by their three quarters especially centres Rukshan Wijesinghe and Rushika Fernando who delayed their passes which saw them being 'nailed' time and again by their opposite numbers Chula Susantha and Pradeep Priyantha and also 'knocked on' at crucial moments which resulted in their speedy winger Lakala Perera being kept in cold storage but on the few occasions he got possession Lakala made some threatening runs before he was brought down in the nick of time by a desperate Police defence.

The Policemen surged into the lead in the 8th minute when off a five metre line out lock forward Pradeep Wilson powered his way to fall over for an unconverted try by the right corner flag.

In the 17th minute CH and FC reduced the deficit when fly half Sajith Bandara fired across a 50 metre penalty and at 'lemons' Police led 5-3.

In the 7th minute after resumption the lads from Maitland Crescent snatched the lead when fly half Sajith Bandara put over a 35 metre penalty to make it 6-5.

Ten minutes later CH increased their lead when they won a 10 metre line out and fly half Bandara set the three quarters in motion and winger Lakala Perera put the finishing touches to the move by diving over by the right corner flag for a splendid try. Bandara missed the conversion and the score read 11-5 in favour of CH.

In the 32nd minute of the second half Police winger S.I. Hettiarachchi picked up a loose ball and sent out a pass to centre Chula Susantha who slipped out a pass to the omnipresent prop forward Nishantha Welagedara who crashed through for a glorious try under the posts. Sudesh Dissanayake made no mistake with the conversion and Police led 12-11.

Two minutes later CH had a golden opportunity of snatching the lead once again when they were awarded a 30 metre penalty but Sajith Bandara's kick went astray much to the dismay of their supporters and Police ran out winners by 12 points to 11. Referee: Aruna Jayasekera.