CH & FC hosted Army Sports Club at the Racecourse Stadium in a week 05 clash of the Mastercard Club Rugby League 2024/25. After a hard fought contest, the hosts managed to get the result in their favor 19-17.
Ashan Bandara executed a 50/22 and gave the team the opportunity to attack with a lineout. After the driving maul gained some good meters the forwards were patient and made some good inroads as a line offside penalty was also awarded. Kaveen Perera then scored the first try for Army Sports Club in the 27th minute of the game. The conversion unfortunately didn’t go through from Isuru Medagedara (CH 00 – 05 ASC)
CH & FC who lost Pasindu Bandara for continuous not rolling away infringements then knocked the ball forward inside their own 22m territory to make matters worse and Army Sports Club made use of the opportunity as Dhanushka Thalwatta produced a scintillating run and almost went all the way. Quick ball after that to the right of the field enabled Isuru Medagedara to score the 2nd try for the soldiers. However Medagedara missed another hard conversion (CH 00 – 10 ASC)
Just before the halftime whistle, the home skipper Janindu Dilshan took matters into his own hands and scored the first try with a phenomenal run from the right corner of the field. He laid the foundation for the try with a lovely territory gainer and finished the job by himself. The conversion didn’t go through but CH & FC were back in the hunt just before lemons (CH 05 – 10 ASC)
Halftime :- Army Sports Club (2T) 10 – 05 (1T) CH & FC
CH & FC scored a try to begin the 2nd half as the big Prop forward Deshan Vimukthi showcased his pure power to take his team towards the halfway mark and the backline then used the right corner of the field with some slick passing to go all the way as Udesh Madushanka finished the job. Janith Chandimal kicked the conversion through to give his team the lead (CH 12 – 10 ASC)
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The hosts then found another try through Randitha Warnapura as the momentum continued to flow in favor of the home team. Chandimal kicked through a lovely angled conversion to increase their lead to 9 points (CH 19 – 10 ASC)
Army found some life back in the game going into the last 10 minutes as Mohomed Akram found the needed power to break through the final line of CH & FC defense to score an all important try. Gayan Salinda added the extra points to make it a 2 point game (CH 19 – 17 ASC)
Army Sports Club received a penalty just a couple of minutes before full time but that unfortunately went away from the left post by a whisker and there were no more opportunities for them to try and take back the lead as the home team got the job done by just 2 points.
CH & FC skipper Janindu Dilshan was named ThePapare Player of the Match for his brilliant performance which paved the way for his team’s turnaround in the 2nd half.
Full Time :- CH & FC 19 (3T 2C) Defeated Army SC 17 (3T 1C)
Points Breakdown
CH & FC : Janindu Dilshan 1T, Udesh Madushanka 1T, Randitha Warnapura 1T, Janith Chandimal 2C
Army SC : Mohomed Akram 1T, Kaveen Perera 1T, Isuru Medagedara 1T, Gayan Salinda 1C
