By M. Shamil Amit

Back-to-back tries from CR & FC in the dying stages of their Nippon Paint Clifford Cup knockout rugby tournament semi-final dashed the hopes of Police SC, as the Reds pulled off a thrilling 23-20 win at the Racecourse ground on Wednesday.

CR & FC trailed 10-09 at lemons, but made up their final points tally through two goals and three penalties against the two goals and two penalties scored by Police SC.

In fact the Longdon Place club found themselves in an even bigger hole, trailing 20-09 with just over ten minutes of play remaining, before they came back with vengeance with a late burst scoring two successive goals to grab the game from their opponents.

The hotly contested game saw CR & FC putting up the first score on the board in the 13th minute through a penalty booted over by Chathura Seneviratne but the lead lasted only four minutes as Prince Chamara booted a penalty to help Police equalize.

From there on the two sides shared the honours and it took 11 minutes for the next scoring to be done which was by Police from an under the post try scored by Dulanjana Wijesinghe, giving Chamara an easy kick at goal for Police to extend their lead to 10-03.

Try as they might CR & FC were unable to breach their opponents’ defense but reduced the deficit through penalties booted over by Thenuka Nanayakkara and Seneviratne before the short whistle was blown.

On resumption it was another closely contested affair before Police increased their lead with Prince Chamara making no mistake with a penalty offered.

Chamara helped Police to surge further ahead when he went over for a try which he converted for Police to lead 20-09.

CR & FC made sporadic moves in a last-ditch effort, and gave themselves a chance when Thisila Karunatne scored a try, before Amith Gurusinghe sent shockwaves through the Police ranks by touching down and putting the Reds a point ahead, with Seneviratne succeeding the two additional points.

Main photo: Action in the Nippon Paint Clifford Cup knockout semi final encounter between CR and FC and Police SC played at the Racecourse ground on Wednesday- Picture by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe

https://www.dailymirror.lk/sports/CR-FC-into-Clifford-Cup-final/322-255082