CR and FC have cleared another tough hurdle in their attempt to win the 2022/23 SLR Nippon Paint Inter-Club League Rugby Championship. Last week, they brought down their traditional rivals Havelock SC 17-14 in their Cup Championship Super Round opening match at Longden Place and went on to regain the coveted Eustace Matthysz Trophy.
This was another outstanding performance from CR and FC as they went on to record their fifth successive victory and now, they are just two games away from regaining the league title in their Centenary Year.
Like the first-round game, this Cup Championship match too turned out to be a thriller as the talented CR and FC outfit held their composure under tremendous pressure before coming out victorious by a close margin.
Havelock SC, of course, had their chances throughout the game but some crucial mistakes let them down as they conceded the advantage back to their opponents and crashed to their third successive defeat.
Kandy SC vs Navy SC
Kandy SC continued their unbeaten record with another splendid performance as they defeated Navy SC 37-28 in another Cup Championship Super Round match played at Welisara.
The defending champions were clinical with their superior back division proving to be too strong to their opponents as they eventually completed their task with a valuable bonus-point victory.
In fact, the Kandy SC three quarters looked brilliant with Nigel Ratwatte, Tharinda Ratwatte, Dinal Ekanayake and Srinath Sooriyabandara all making an impact through their dazzling performances.
But there was a moment where Kandy SC were put under severe pressure when Navy SC successfully reduced the deficit to a mere two points during the dying stages of the game.
The Sailors came back strongly after the turnaround with two late tries and they believed that they could produce a repeat performance of last week, where they snatched a dramatic victory with an injury-time penalty at the same venue.
But Kandy SC, like a true champion side, were able to withstand the pressure and they went on to add the finishing touches in a spectacular manner.
Police SC vs CH and FC
Police SC continued their run of success with another giant killing performance as they outplayed CH and FC 41-26 in their Plate Championship match played at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo.
This was also the second time that Police SC were able to beat CH and FC following last week’s 27-22 triumph in the first-round and now they have notched up three successive victories in the tournament.
The first-round game of course, was decided with a last-minute try but this time Police SC were too strong as they sealed the contest in their favour very early and went on a scoring spree to notch up a bonus-point win.
Air Force vs Army
Air Force SC kept their hopes alive of winning the Plate Championship when they defeated Army SC in another Inter-Club match played at Ratmalana. The Airmen enjoyed a close 13-11 lead at half time, but they rallied around well through their forwards to register an easy victory in the end.
Air Force SC have obtained the greatest number of bonus points in the tournament but this time they will be somewhat disappointed as they managed only three tries in this fixture.
