By: Shamseer Jaleel

Mar. 1 (Daily Mirror) - CH and FC secured their semi-final spot of the Clifford Cup Knock-Out Rugby Tournament when they beat Army Sports Club by 35 points (five tries, one penalty try and one penalty) to 27 points (four tries, two conversions and one penalty) in the third quarter-final encounter played at Longden Place.

The CH and FC will now meet Havelock SC in the second semi-final on March 6 at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo.

The CH and FC opened the scoring in the fifth minute of play with a superb try from Chathumina Rajasinghe and they further increased that lead with the second try from Theekshana Dassanayake five minute later.

However, Army SC came back strongly with back-to-back tries from winger Lasantha Kumara and centre Sudaraka Dikkumbura with fly half Ashan Bandara converting the second try to make it 12-10.

Few minute later, prop forward Dushmantha Priyadarshana put the CH and FC back in the lead with a splendid try as the side from Maitland Crescent went into half time leading 15-12.

Army SC began the second half in a promising note as Kumara crossed the whitewash for the second time in the game. Bandara made no mistake with the conversion and few minute later he fired across a good penalty to increase the lead to 22-12.

However, the CH and FC got their act together once again midway in the second half through successive tries from Nirosh Perera and Dinesh Lakshan as they took the lead 25-22.

With 10 minutes left Referee Gihan Yatawara awarded a penalty try for the CH and FC and Hirusha Sampath’s penalty took them to safety at 35-22. Army SC had an opportunity only for a consolation try by Janith Premajayantha. (Pix: Waruna Wanniarachchi)