Vunivosa, Iroshan down CH 36-22

By Harsha Amarasinghe

Police Sports Club humiliated CH and FC following another storming second-half performance with the centre combination of Iroshan Silva and Emosi Vunivosa brushing aside the Maitland Crescent Club 36 (6 tries, 3 conversions) - 22 (4 tries, 1 conversion) at Police Park today (03).

Despite trailing 10-05 at the breather, the courageous Cops turned the tables on lackluster CH as Silva and Vunivosa bagged braces taking their side to third spot in the points table.

Vunivosa, the former Fiji Under 20 player, gave Police a flying start just five minutes into the kick-off collecting a loose ball and sprinting over 25 metres to dive over, but some sloppy rugby towards end of first-half handed their opponents two tries with second row Sajith Saranga and hooker Prasath Madushanka touching down.

However, the Policemen outclassed CH in the second-half scoring five tries with their backs running riots. Stand-in captain Iroshan Silva in particular had a mesmerizing second-half scoring twice.

Five minutes into the resumption Police regained the lead courtesy of two tries from Vunivosa and fly-half Janith Chandimal in quick succession, and then Iroshan Silva charged down a clearance kick from CH which resulted in him crossing the whitewash to take a solid 24-10 lead.

Silva finished off the game in style putting the finishing touches to a dazzling Police move in the final minute of the game where his younger brother Sachith Silva, though failing to offload the ball properly, had given enough time for Iroshan to collect and crash over to secure the win.

CH prop Dushmantha Priyadarshana scored late in the game, but it was nothing more than a consolation try.

Chandimal put over two conversions for the Cops while the Sachith Silva added extras on one occasion as Police clinched their third victory of the season.

CH at cross-roads?

CH and FC, on the other hand, despite such a huge squad, has just one win in five matches. They looked like a team without a proper plan; apparently the only strategy they are working on at present is either not giving any information or providing incorrect information to the press with regard to their starting line-up and they seem to think hiding their first XV until the kick-off would give them an advantage over their opponents.

Well, one win in five matches speaks for itself.

On Friday, they handed a debut to young Hirusha Sampath at full-back – a position, in which he had not even been considered for by Kingswood College at school level and, naturally, he looked absolutely out of sorts playing against the likes of Silva and Vunivosa, before he was taken off after 25 minutes with a head injury.

The country’s best prop forward for the last decade Dushmantha Priyadarshana was warming the bench for 55 minutes. Experienced players such as Number Eight Niwanka Prasad, Second Row Dimitri Wijetunga and Centre Kushan Indunil were all starting on the bench while Full-back Samuel Maduwantha and Centre Hirantha Perera were not in the match day squad.

A few weeks ago flanker Sudharshana Muthuthanthri made himself unavailable for CH and opted to play in some unknown 7s competition in Dubai and still gets away with it.

All these facts only make CH and FC look like a bunch of people on vacation, who happen to be playing in the most prestigious league of Sri Lanka Rugby.