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| Monday, 11 August 2003 |
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Wesley's cause for defeat by Richard Dwight The more fancied Wesley side which as expected dominated almost the entire first half of their semi-final rugger match last Saturday at the Sugathadasa Stadium - all but failed to cross the Thomian line. With their fleet of foot, nippy bustling rugby, Wesley proved they were the superior side and, so made frequent forays into the Thomian '22' to be virtually there all the time, to call the tune. But the pity of it all was, that despite having good ball and being on the offensive, making many an innovative move, they simply weren't able to penetrate the rock like Thomian defence to score. This was mainly due to the reason that the Wesleyites had many a ruse and trick in their repertoire that made choice difficult. They did seem to have a fondness for the scissors and dummy and resorted to this with monotonous regularity. So much so, that it became common knowledge to the Thomians, who effectively thwarted it. The Wesleyites should have been wise to take the appropriate options and use the scissor and dummy with stealth at opportune moments, to put it to good use to be effective to put their side on top. Despite Wesley having, the major share of the first half, they had to be content on being at par with S. Thomas' with 3 points each, brought about by penalties. The second half saw S. Thomas re-group to play better with their forwards, and confiding the Wesleyites to their half and within the '22'. One cannot understand why the Wesleyites when under pressure and in their '22' did not straightaway kick to touch, but instead preferred to run to mess up things and, it was on occasions such as this, that the Thomain forward Namal Rajapakse sneaked in to touch down twice to cause a Thomian victory. Two to three of the Wesleyites were guilty of selfish play, trying to go on their own, weaving the insides and wingers starved for the ball - so having lost the feel of the ball and, when it did come, they at times spilled their passes, which was disappointing. The only saving grace for Wesley was place kicker Yasas Nonis, who put over 4 penalties but missed the crucial decisive one, to give S. Thomas' victory by the odd point 13-12. |
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