The Airmen kickstarted their 2025 with a commanding victory over the Sailors, scoring 29 points against 24 yesterday (03 January 2025) at the Navy Rugby Ground in Welisara.

The Air Force Team opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes with two consecutive tries by Shamika Kaushan and Ishara Madushan. Gayantha Iddamalgoda converted one try to bring the team up to 12 points. Just before the halftime, Manuka Perera scored another try to bring up the total score and once again the boots of Gayantha Iddamalgoda added two more points to bring the score up to 19 points at halftime.

The second half was tightly contested by both teams, where Navy was trying to infiltrate the Air Force defence on many occasions. The Airmen’s defence proved to be too good against such an attack and they moved on with their counterattack to score the bonus point try by Shamika Kaushan and seal the game 29 to 24 during the final whistle.

Gayantha Iddamalgoda was adjudged the player of the match. The Airmen will be tested next by the defending champions, CR&FC, on 12 January 2025 at the Air Force Rugby Grounds Ratmalana.