A star studded clash is on the cards this Wednesday, as Havelocks Sports Club will take on hometown rivals CR & FC in a friendly derby in celebration of the centenary of the Park road club.
All roads leading to the Havelock town grounds will flock with traffic as the rugby fraternity will make their way towards the grounds to cherish the good old memories with club in its long standing history of 100 years. Ever since Roy Joachim founded the club on the foundation of camaraderie and brotherhood way back in 1915, Havelocks Sports Club has been a household name in the sporting anecdotes of the country dominating the oval ball sport for a prolonged period.
LIVE Today – Havelock SC v CR & FC
The park road’s engagement with rugby dates back towards the 1920’s when they first took up the sport. Havelock’s relationship with the Longden place club; CR & FC too began during this period as the two clubs ventured on to a new platform to start playing an annual encounter within each other. This encounter took the tagline to be one of the most anticipated clashes in the club rugby calendar and still continues to be so. Often called the rugby derby of the Colombo city, the Havelocks vs CR & FC was the deciding fixture for the rightful heir for the Colombo metropolitan.
Reliving the memories, the two teams will meet this Wednesday (2nd) for a friendly exhibition game in celebration of the three figure stand by the Havelock town at the Havelock Sports Club grounds under floodlights starting at 6.30 p.m.
The centenary fixture will be graced by many of the stalwarts who donned the Havelocks Sports Club jersey in the past to reminiscence their journey with the club and recollect their fond moments off the field.
Sandun Herath will lead the centenary celebration fixture and the team will comprise of a mixed outfit. Andrew Jagan, Rehan Thiyagarajah, Rizwan Meedin and Thushitha Samarathilake will power the Havelock three-quarters in the absence of their strongholds who will be representing Sri Lanka in the upcoming Asia Sevens Series. Science skipper Lasindu Ishan will dorn the prestigious Havelocks jersey for his first ever club encounter this week as he has been named as the starting #8 for the team. Sri Lanka Under 20 Sevens skipper and Peterite Kevin Dixon make his way to the first team at the position of full back. Rohitha Rajapaksha will also be a part of the starting XV this Wednesday and will play in the position of flanker
CR & FC lead by the versatile Ishan Noor will walk on to the lawns of Havelocks for the first time in this 2015/2016 season with an all-new revamped outfit by his side. The Longden place club has included their new top names in the transfer listings Sashan Mohammed, Prince Chamara & Banuka Nanayakkara for tomorrow’s clash against their township rivals. This will be their unofficial debut in the red jersey and will look to make an impact in their first outing.
Former Sri Lanka under 20 skipper and Trinitian Tarinda Ratwatte will be the individual who will be open his professional club rugby account this Wednesday. Wearing the #10 jersey Ratwatte will start for CR & FC in the centenary fixture in his first ever club rugby game. With Ratwatte donning the CR & FC jersey, he goes into the books of records where a father and son represented CR & FC. His father, Ashan Ratwatte represented CR & FC in the late 1980’s as a scrum half. The other debutant is Rehan Silva, the former Isipathana full back.
The centenary fixture will be one of the main events of the week long celebrations organized by the club. The ceremonies are expected to conclude this weekend with the dinner dance.
The encounter will live streamed on ThePapare.com 6.30 p.m. on wards
