Air Force Sports Club will be without one of their best players for the entire season as full back Rumesh Ramdas has been ruled out of action due to a knee injury.

The former St. Anthony’s College player has been one of their main try scorers over the last few years and famously scored a double against champions Kandy Sports Club a few seasons ago when they stunned Kandy at Ratmalana.

“He won’t be available for this season because has suffered a bad knee injury,” Air Force captain Ranuka Medagedara told Daily Mirror.

Although Air Force was beaten in their opening match they produced a good fight against Kandy Sports Club in Nittawela.

“In the last few years we were beaten heavily in Kandy because that is the hardest fixture for any team -- to go to Kandy and play against them in those conditions, but this time we did very well in my opinion because we did not concede a lot of tries and we kept it open for a long time. So as a team we can take a lot of positives out of a performance like that because even though we lost the match by 26 points to 08 points, we know we played well there,” prop forward added.

Flanker Imesh Aponso who failed to make an impression at CH and FC last season due to lack of game time has crossed over to Air Force Sports Club along with his school mate S. Sashika.

“As a captain I believe in these players and I know they have the talent because they showed that at inter-school level. This is the next level and they could succeed at this level if they work hard. So I firmly believe in my players,” Medagedara claimed.

Air Force Sports Club who finished at the bottom of the table last season are eligible to field an overseas player, but they did not do so and in their defeat to Kandy Sports Club in the opening weekend. Medagedara is hopeful that they will have an overseas player within the next couple of week.

“I know we are eligible to have one player (overseas), but we did not have one in the first match. I am not really in charge of the recruiting and things like that, but I believe that we will have a foreign player very soon,” said the captain.

Daily Mirror Prediction

Air Force Sports Club finished eighth last season and are still to get down an overseas player, but they have improved as a team without a doubt. Should be a battle between them and Navy for the 7th place

Player to watch out for

Gayantha Iddamalgoda – A very talented player who is capable of playing at scrum-half, fly-half and full-back. With players like Ramdas out injured, there is big responsibility on him to deliver a top performance.