By Harsha Amarasinghe and Sandun Kodithuwakku

Police Sports Club will take on Army Sports Club in the plate segment of the inter club league rugby tournament at Police Park on Friday (10).

Police SC began the season with the hope of playing in the cup competition in the second round, but a disasterous start to their season saw them sinking down the points table in the first five weeks.

But veteran coach Nilfer Ibrahim changed their fortunes around emphatically as they registered sensational victories against CH and FC as well as Havelock Sports Club.

Having done so they are now sitting on top of the plate championship with 23 points and a victory over Army would put them in pole position to secure the plate. 

Their closest rival is set to be Air Force who are also on 23 points, but will have to face CH and FC in the penultimate game.

Head coach Ibrahim made a bold decision to bring rookie full-back Shane Hopwood to the starting line up ahead of Prince Chamara which may have raised a few eyebrows given that the
former Wesley back was playing his first club season. 

But since this move Police have been undefeated and with players like Stefan Praveen, Rukshan Madushanka and Akash Madushanka becoming regular members in that backline along with their first choice winger Sujan Kodithuwakku, the Cops are now well settled at the back. 

On the other hand, it has been a very disappointing season for Army Sports Club. 

They are currently placed at the bottom of the table despite fighting hard this season, and especially considering the big names such as Sudaraka Dikkumbura and Ashan Bandara, it’s hard to believe they have only been able to win one game the whole
season.

Police will be fighting for the plate and the Army will be battling for pride - they really do need to finish the league on a high.

Police XV: Amjad Fawmy, Rasith Silva, Hashan Fernando, Nisal Samadhi (c), Mohan Wimalaratne, Lahiru Thilakaratne, Chanaka
Sooriyapperuma, Shanaka Harishchandra, Primesh Danushka and Yohan Peiris, Stefan Praveen, Akash Madushanka, Rukshan
Madushanka, Sujan Kodithuwakku, Shane Hopwood

Army XV: Sreemamtha Diunugalage , Danilsha Dissanayake, Rasika Abeynayake, Nalaka Maduranga, Thairusha Adhikaram, Nalan Premanath, Chinthaka Sandaruwan, Vinod Kumar, Chamath Fernando and Ashan Bandara, Kavindu Amarasiri, Sudaraka Dikkumbura, Manoj Kumara, Lasantha Kumara, Sachin Gamage, Mahesh Weerasinghe(C)