Havies gun down Army in 8 try blitz

ByShamzeer Jaleel

Havelock SC 60 points

Army SC 29 points

Havelock Sports Club made a full stop to the fairytale run of the Solders in the Clifford Cup 2019 in the semi-final encounter when the Park Club outplayed the Solders 60/29 at Racecourse ground.

At the short breather Havies led 31/3.

Former Peterite Sandesh Jayawickrema and Riza Mubarak along with play makers Chamra Dabare and Mithun Hapugoda stood out for the Park Club. Havies scored their tries through Lasindu Ishan, Chamara Dabare (2), Riza Mubarak, Dinuk Amarasinghe, K Kavinda, Theeksha Dassanayake and Sandesh Jayawickrema. Riza Mubarak as usual was in peak form in his kick at goal with 6 conversions plus two penalties for the Park Club while Sandesh Jayawickrema made one conversion for the winners.  Solders scored their tries through Ashan Bandara (2) and Sudaraka Dikkumbura with Isuru Medagedera put over one conversion plus a penalty while Gayan Salinda put over two conversions for the Army.

So the final will be now worked off on March 24 at the same venue with Havies meeting Air Force in the Clifford Cup rugby final encounter. For records Havies winning of the Clifford Cup count sits at 13 with the last win in 1981 while the Air Force accounted for the Cup only once in 1986.