In conditions most suitable for fast open rugby CR & FC ran amok and crushed giant killers Army SC by a massive 53 points (8 tries, 5 conversions, a penalty) to 33 (5 tries, 4 conversions) in a second round Dialog Rugby League encounter at Longdon Place yesterday.
CR made good use of the dry conditions and moved the ball around in abundance that caught the Army players on the wrong foot and unable to defend as they had done very well in the past.
The first half saw CR open the scoring in the first minute when the ball changed hands and winger Reeza Refaideen scored by the corner flag. He missed the conversion himself. Army struck back and winger Ashan Bandara went over to score. The conversion was missed and the scores were level.
Thereafter it was all CR who ran round the Army defence to score four tries after that. They scored through Chamod Fernando while Kevin Dixon scored two of them piercing the defence. Stephen Sivaraj made the conversion to take the lead 31 points to 19 at half time.
Army also scored through Dikumburu Sudaraka and Gayan Salinda with Isuru Madagedara converting both tries. The second half saw a similar pattern of play with CR dominating and Tarinda Ratwatte was also brought in and he excelled with his goal kicking and scored the final try for them. Tries were also scored by Omalka Gunaratne and Gemunu Chethiya. Ratwatte put over a penalty and converted the tries.
Army managed to score only two tries in the second half through Nalin Premanath and Chameera Silva with Gayan Salinda making the conversions. The lead was too much for Army to catch up.