By: Shamil Amit

Colombo, Jan. 15 (Daily Mirror) - CH & FC was made to work hard to stave off the stiff challenge put in by Police SC before scraping through to a close 18-12 win in the Nippon Paint Rugby League encounter played at the Racecourse Ground yesterday.

CH held on to an 18-7 lead at the breather whilst accumulating their points through three tries and a penalty to a goal and try scored by Police SC.

CH, though playing to their potential in the first half, was unable to make any impression in the second session as Police SC gave them some torrid moments and, in the process, succeeded in preventing CH from scoring.

As expected, the first session belonged to CH, who got the scoreboard moving in the fourth minute with Mohamed Absal going over for an unconverted try.

With the two sides sharing honours, CH managed to increase the lead in the 15th minute through a penalty booted over by Hirusha Nethmina.

Later, two unconverted tries within the space of seven minutes by CH, first in the 20th minute by Gimhana Silva and in the 27th minute by Gihan Madusanka, saw them lead 18-0.

Police SC, unfettered, took the challenge to their opponents territory and succeeded in breaching their

defence, with Hirantha Perera going over for a try in the 33rd minute and with the conversion being booted over, and with no further scoring, saw CH lead 18-7 at lemons.

The resumption was expected to be a close tussle, though Police SC trailed by 11 points. With the progress of the match, the Police SC side seemed to have come back into the field with a different game plan.

They surprised their opponents in the third minute with an unconverted try by Mithun Hapugoda, and from there on, they had their opponents struggling for survival with their robust attack and defence.

However, with the only scoring done in this session by Police SC and CH failing to make any scoring, they scraped through to an 18-12 win and are almost assured of the fourth slot. Referee: Hasantha Weranga. (Pix: Nisal Baduge)