Schools Rugby Review:

Peterites get closer to schools rugby title

Chris Dhambarage

SCHOOLS RUGBY: St. Peter's College moved closer towards winning the Singer 'A' division league title while notching up their fourth successive victory in the current inter school rugby season.

Last week on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya the Peterites produced another powerful display as they annihilated Ananda College by a massive margin of 74 points to 3 points in their annual encounter. They simply outclassed their opponents with a ruthless performance and planted as many as twelve tries and successfully converted seven of them.

The manner in which they completed their task was really outstanding where the forwards and the three quarters gave a masterly display while crossing their opponents goal line quite regularly.

The other significant factor was that all their players had the opportunity of handling the ball and they really made use of it which something they could be satisfied at the end.

The best effort of course came from the dynamic centre three quarter Gayan Liyanage who produced a dazzling performance to score four superb tries.

His performance along with the rest of the key players was quite encouraging for the Peterites because their next outing will be against the defending champions Kingswood College Kandy.

St. Anthony's v S. Thomas'

St. Anthony's College Kandy also kept their hopes alive with a hard fought 34 points to 17 points victory over S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia in their annual inter school rugby encounter played at the Police Park during the weekend.

The Antonians after an early set back settled down beautifully and added the finishing touches while collecting their points from three goals, two tries and one penalty. Even then the Thomians showed early promise and managed to take the initiative and also enjoyed a close lead in the first half of the game.

But the Antonians proved that they were a determined side and held their nerve during the latter stages during which time they scored two successive tries to seal the game in their favour.

Royal v Vidyartha

Royal College went through some anxious moments before overcoming Vidyartha College Kandy by 31 points to seven points in their Singer inter school 'B' division league tournament match played at Reid Avenue yesterday.

Royal came under tremendous pressure at the start of the game and they were trailing 3-7 at half time quite surprisingly. But they got their act together well after the interval and came magnificently to score four superb tries during the latter stages of the match.

Royal probably were overconfident at the beginning having won their previous three encounters quite convincingly. But they just could not continue with the same form and also conceded a try for the first time in the 'B' division league tournament.

The Royal forwards got into top gear mid way in the second half and they simply outclassed the opposition with a powerful performance with the three quarters backing up equally well. They were prepared to keep possession with them for a longer period and the results they achieved in that period was quite amazing.

Isipatana v Dharmaraja

Isipatana College cruised to their fourth successive victory overcoming Dharmaraja College Kandy by a convincing margin of 29 points to nil in their Singer inter school under 20 'B' division league rugby tournament match played at Havelock Park last week.

Isipatana have already proved that they are one of the top contenders for the 'B' division league title and this time they stamped their class scoring two goals and three tries. But more importantly they were in full control of the game with the three quarters handling the ball with a great amount of fluency.

Isipatana can be really pleased with this effort because they have not conceded a try to any of their opponents in the tournament so far. They have done all the hard work and now they are just a couple of games away from winning the league title which will also help them to receive promotion into the top division from next year.

Kingswood v Thurstan

Defending champions Kingswood College Kandy powered their way to register a rousing 67 points to nil win over Thurstan College in their Singer inter school 'A' division league tournament match played at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy last week.

The Kingswoodians came out with their best performance for the season as they ran down as many as eleven tries and successfully converted six of them. This was a kind of a good warm up match for the Kingswooodians who will be up against the table leaders and unbeaten St. Peter's College team in their next outing.

This match was quite a significant one for Kingswood captain and number eight Navin Wijetunga who planted seven tries including two separate hattricks of tries which happened probably for the first time in the current inter school rugby season.

Trinity v St. Joseph's Trinity College produced a fine second half rally to beat St. Joseph's College by 38 points to 20 points in their Singer inter school 'B' division league rugby tournament match played at Longden Place last week.

The Trinitians who took a close 14-13 lead at half time bounced back in style scoring four goals and two tries to turn the game in their favour. The Josephians had the satisfaction of crossing the Trinity goal line twice before going down fighting in an exciting encounter.