Karunasena, ironically, passed away on his birthday – September 26, and his remains, according to his wishes, was handed to the Medical College.

A former Isipathana MV prop forward, Karunasena was a popular figure at CH where he helped the club and several players financially. He was a successful businessman, one of the pioneers to import sprats from Thailand to this country.

Under Karunasena’s leadership CH won the Clifford Cup for the first time under a Sri Lankan in 1982. That year CH was voted the Observer-Milo Most Popular Rugby Club.

After a short stint with CH, Karunasena joined Havelocks SC and captained them in 1988. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

It was in the last quarter of play that Havies managed to pull away from the Army when they scored two back to back tries.

The match got off to fabulous start with prop forward Dushmantha Priyadarshana for Havies and Ashoka Jayalal for Army scoring in quick time. Samantha Lakshan and Gayan Salinda both missed the conversions and the scoreline stood at 5-all.

Off a three quarter move centre Hirantha Perera then went over the line and Lakshan missed the conversion again to put Havies in front by 10-5. Gayan Salinda fired across a penalty for Army to close the gap to 10-8.

Havies increased the lead to17-8 with a try scored by second row forward Janik Jayasuriya and Lakshan made the conversion.

Just before lemons Army scored through Imanka Ariyapala and Salinda missed the important conversion. At half time the score read 17-15 in Havelock’s favour.

After the break Salinda and Lakshan put over a penalty each to take the score to 20-18.

Havelocks scored again when Hirantha Perera touched down under the post for an unconverted try after collecting an off load from skipper Sadun Herath. Score Havies 25, Army 18.

Two superb back to back tries by Herath and Nishon Perera sealed the match for Havies with both of them being converted by replacement fly half Rimzie Jamaldeen.

They remain at third place despite their triumph, behind Kandy SC and Havelocks SC, but they will fancy their chances against the defending champions with the sort of form they are in at the moment. Having said that, they are a young team prone to make mistakes, but they have to believe in themselves and need to be more consistent come the business end of the season.
On the other hand things just went from bad to worse for Police SC with their latest defeat. They were earlier beaten by Kandy SC and Havies, but the loss against CR and FC would be more painful given the fact that the Cops were favourites to win it on paper.

Police SC signed a bunch of experienced players before the beginning of the season, but most of these players don’t look like they are willing to put their bodies on the line for the club. They hardly put in a proper tackle during the match.
The players they have recruited have been playing for a while and are quite experienced, but the referees have issued six yellow cards against them in the last two matches with flanker Sharo Fernando receiving a red.
Six yellow cards mean they have conceded their opponent the advantage for more than 60 minutes, and when a team does that they are not going to win many matches.

Navy vs CH and FC
Meanwhile, Navy SC got back to winning ways with a 67-6 hammering over CH and FC, where flanker Yoshitha Rajapaksa and scrum half Richie Dharmapala bagged a brace each while wing three quarter Dinusha Chathuranga, Number Eight Sajith Saranga, centre Lee Keegle, Kanchana Perera and Saliya Hadapangoda also contributed with a try apiece at the Race Course on Saturday.
The club from Maitland Crescent has now lost all four matches they have played with huge margins, which is a real shame for a club which has a glorious history.

Army vs Kandy
Meanwhile, Army SC was beaten fair and square by the reigning champions Kandy SC, but the Soldiers will be proud that they became the first team to concede less than 50 points against Fazil Marija’s men, who eventually won 44-8 at Nittawela on Sunday.

Centre Richard Dharmapala impressed for the league leaders with a couple of tries, while Marija, flanker Sashika Jayawardene and two prop forwards Kishore Jehan and Piyumal Manchanayake too got into the score sheet.
Kandy SC has dominated the league so far. It would be fair to say that they have had some easy fixtures to start with. However, their games against Havies and CR and FC will decide whether the trophy will remain in the Hill Capital.

Havelocks vs Air Force
The Havies registered their fourth consecutive win in the league beating Air Force SC 26-13 at Havelock Park on Sunday
They have got one of the country’s best players, if not the best, in centre Danushka Ranjan. An absolute powerhouse, the old Peterite has been massively influential in his side’s success.
They outclassed Air Force in the first half, but since Ranjan limped off with an injury in the second half they were put under enormous pressure by the Airmen, which proved the sort of impact he has on the team.
Ranjan, scrum half Rahul de Silva, hooker Prasath Madushan and fly half Samantha Lakshan were the try scorers for the winners.

Such a scoreline was expected when Kandy had by half time run up a total of 46-3. For Kandy both their forwards and three quarters combined effectively to create this smashing win. In the end they ran circles around the hapless CH side that had no answers to cope up with the enormous attack carried out by the hill capital lads.

The man who created this sensational victory for Kandy was none other than their national centre Gayan Weeraratne who went onto score a hat-trick of tries running amok at the inexperience CH three quarters.

Navy beat Air Force

Navy forwards gave of a brilliant display under the leadership of ex-Navy and national captain Yoshitha Rajapaksa to cruise to a straight forward 38-8 win over Air Force at Navy grounds.

Their three quarters ran through every time they received the ball and scored, with veteran fly half Dev Anand feeding his speedy line at every given opportunity.

Second row forward ex-national player Sathya Ranatunga played a tremendous game scoring two breathtaking tries towards the end.

Havies edge out Police

Havelock’s SC was really lucky to beat the rejuvenated Police side by 28-19 after been led 13-9 at half time. They should owe this win largely to their ex-Royal College prop forward Dushmantha Priyadarshana who single-handedly brought victory to his side by scoring a try and having hand in other two tries where he sent Ganuka Dissanayaka and Sudarshana Muthuthanttri over. New fly half Samantha Lakshan had a good day with the kicks where he successfully put over despite the handicap with the wet ball.

Police who played well in patches lost the game due to their entire forwards not engaged in break downs quickly other than Billal Hassan. They were really slow arriving at the ball.

Police had a good chance of winning this game but their substitute scrum half Mohamad Afzal who had a grand game made a silly blunder where he knocked on while touching down for a try in the in-goal area.

CR and FC down Army

CR made a superb late rally where they came from behind to beat the fighting Army outfit by 35-15 after trailing 6-10 at lemons at Longden Place.

Army shocked the entire crowd present with their fierce tackling and sizzling runs. CR who did not play to their full potential got their act together in the last 18 minutes of the game thanks to their coaching staff getting the combinations right by shifting Ashan de Costa to fly half and bringing in Dilan Zoysa from the bench to operate from the base of the scrum.

Hero for CR was winger Makalanka Pramoda who scored two scintillating tries. The kicking of full back Prince Chamara was exceptional where he put over a penalty from the 50 meter mark. But the unsung hero was their young “Alfred Hensmen” like national flanker Jason Dissanayaka who single-handedly created the opportunities by punching holes at the Army defence to send Mekalanka, Dilan and Shashan over for tries.

Going by the crossovers, new entrants and exodus of players from club to club, Police perhaps have stood to gain more as they look to deploy a star cast of exponents that rival teams may grudge or need to buckle up to challenge.

Like it or not, Havelocks will have to bear the brunt of a Police backlash and face hardcore players like Sharo Fernando, Bilal Hassan, Reza Mubarak and Chamara Dabare who have crossed over from Navy, Mohamed Sheriff and Chula Susantha who quit Army.

“We are expecting our new intakes to take us to the next level with their experience”, said Police Rugby secretary and former Sri Lanka prop Hafeel Marso.

“With these players we are capable of competing against any team in the League and our target is to finish in the top three and that’s not to say we cannot win the title.”

Police have also enlisted a new trainer in former Sri Lanka Number Eight Dushanth Lewke while the team is coached by Lalith Weeraratne with fly half Lahiru Gurusinghe as captain.

Besides facing up to a Police juggernaut, Havelocks will also have to find their feet as they set about to convince their supporters who have had very little to brag about since the Park Club won the League in 2012 after a 31-year lapse.

Flying winger Sandun Herath will have more than just a role to play as he captains Havelocks who have re-enlisted their former charismatic coach Tulagaese Tawita, a Samoan better known as Laga who guided them to the League title in 2012.

Laga will have to be the main driving force behind the scene if Havelocks are to go places and regain lost pride in a season that offers nothing to the lesser mortals and is being touted as anyone’s playground.

“This side is different from 2012. There is more balance and it’s only a matter of motivating them”, said Laga. But while the Havelocks-Police clash is expected to draw most of the fans, Navy and Air Force will actually raise the League curtain on the same day at Welisara in a match that both teams will look to gauge their strengths and weaknesses.

Navy will have to depend on a high element of schoolboys to overcome many voids following the exit of the elite of their players to Police and Kandy.

Among their new faces are former Isipathana College play-maker and Number Eight Omalka Gunaratne and St. Joseph’s College prop forward Steven Gregory.

Apart from Police opening their doors to Navy’s battled hardened players, Kandy have also enticed Srinath Suriyabandara, Soyura Anthony and Wishwamithra Jayasinghe to leave the Welisara club rendering it a team on rough seas under coach Nilfer Ibrahim.