CH Eying Kiwi and Fiji

By. Harsha Amarasinghe and Sandun Kodithuwakku

Last season’s Plate champs CH and FC have set their sights on signing a foreign player ahead of the inter club league rugby tournament next week. 

The Maitland Crescent Club will host Police Sports Club in their opening match at Race Course on November 16.  Former CH captain Rohitha Rajapaksa has taken over as the head coach from veteran Sanath Martis in a bid to improve their place in the league table. 

Rajapaksa in an interview with the Daily Mirror revealed their plans about adding a foreign player to the squad saying the club’s options are open. “At the moment Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) has given us a couple of options - one of them being enlisting players from New Zealand. “Apart from that, we have also been in contact with Stefano Cacau about the possibility of having him as a Number 8 or centre from Fiji. We have also held talks with some senior rugby coaches in Fiji but we need to get SLR’s permission to pursue this,” said Rajapaksa. 

CH will be captained by Janidu Dilshan once again after his stellar performance while the club has named two co-vice captains in Danushka Malitha and Maliksha Perera.  While CH have lost half of their forward pack from last season, they have been boosted by the return of hooker Prasanth Madushanka and have also sealed a deal with Raveena Fernando and W. Samitha from CR and FC.

Rajapaksa also contends that maintaining consistency throughout the season will be key for his side.  “It’s really important to have good consistency within the squad. What happened over the last few years was that we’ve always had injuries and because of that we couldn’t maintain the same team composition. This has been a good learning curve for us. It’s crucial to prepare for different scenarios,” said Rajapaksa. 

On the other hand, CH are also set to provide opportunities for a host of players from Wesley College who have joined the club.  “We’ve lost about seven players from our starting team, but we are confident about the school entrants who have joined our club. We work on their long term rugby development rather than just giving them an opportunity for one season,” Rajapaksa said. 

Talking about their targets for the new season Rajapaksa said CH are looking for a top three finish in the league.  “In the league we are hoping for a top- three finish while our target is to somehow make the knockout final and hopefully win it. I know we have a very young squad but the players are more than capable of delivering top performances,” he said.