Peterites retain Archibald Perera trophy with 23-15 win

Schools Rugby Review:

Chris Dhambarage

RUGBY: The Peterites have done it again. They have retained the Archibald Perera memorial trophy for the third successive year. Last week on their home grounds at Bambalapitiya they completed a hat-trick of victories against their arch rivals S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia.

The Peterites also cleared a massive psychological barrier in their attempt to retain the Singer 'A' division league title by winning their annual inter school encounter by a convincing margin of 23 points to 15 points.

This was another clinical performance from the reigning champions who played like a true champion side while scoring four superb tries to underline their authority. Last week they had warmed up with another impressive victory over St. Anthony's College at the same venue in their curtain raiser fixture.

This time of course they were up against a tough opposition as the Thomians were quite fresh after having scored a morale boosting victory against Trinity College Kandy in their opening encounter.

But the Peterites looked very much a confident lot as they went about their task in style while launching a series of threatening moves that left a lasting impression in the game. The soggy ground conditions certainly did make things much difficult for both teams as the game turned out to be a typical forwards battle.

The Peterites were not lacking in this department as they figured in a gruelling contest with a combined effort that pushed the Thomians back into their territory. St. Peter's College never looked back once they had entered their opponents territory and they also had several options with the three quarters backing up well.

The only major concern for the Peterites was the absence of a reliable place kicker. They could not add the extra points to any of their tries which prevented them from running away a much bigger total at the end.

This factor could come into effect in a close encounter and with another key match against Isipatana College this week they will be quite anxious to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Isipatana v Wesley

Isipatana College powered their way to score a comprehensive 47 points to five points victory over Wesley College in their Singer 'A' division league rugby tournament match played at Havelock Park last week.

The match of course turned out to be a good work out for Isipatana who will be up against the defending champions St. Peter's College in a key fixture this week. The former champions were hardly stretched in this one sided encounter as they sealed the game even before the end of the short whistle.

Isipatana will be certainly concerned about their preparations for the more important matches ahead because so far they have not received any real opposition this season.

Their opening encounter against Kingswood College Kandy was badly disrupted shortly after half time at the Bogambara Stadium two weeks ago.

And the Wesleyites just could not make a match of it as they were completely outplayed by a more superior outfit. Isipatana simply stamped their class by running down as many as seven tries and also did well to convert six of them.

Isipatana always played the brand of rugby which is associated with them with the three quarters making merry as they were responsible in scoring all seven tries. They stuck to their task and penetrated the Wesley defence at regular intervals and at the end it looked as if they were having a practice session on their back yard.

The Wesleyites just did not have the answer to the awesome power of Isipatana as they crashed to their second defeat the tournament. They will be quite unfortunate because they had to face two tough opponents at the early stage of the season which could certainly demoralise the entire side ahead of their remaining fixtures.

St. Anthony's v Trinity

St. Anthony's College bounced back into recognition as they edged out their home town rivals Trinity College by a solitary point 14-13 in their Singer inter school 'A' division league match worked off at the Pallekele Stadium last week.

The game turned out to be an exiting contest as the Antonians sealed the match by scoring one try and three penalties against their opponents two tries and one penalty. The Antonians who lost to St. Peter's College last week put up a more determined performance as they went on to register their first win of the tournament.

They also avenged their last years defeat where they suffered a crushing 13-24 defeat against the same opposition. Even then the Antonians were trailing 3-8 at half time and their success in this encounter was always in the balance. But Roshan Wijesiri emerged as their match-winner as he fired across three superb penalties to make the difference at the end.

In fact Wijesiri contributed all 14 points for the Antonians having earlier scored their solitary try of the match. The Trinitians will be quite disappointed with the result having scored more tries than their opponents.

Trinity College of course failed to add the extra points to their two tries which would have made a big difference at the end.

Royal v Thurstan

Royal College powered their way to score their second successive victory while overcoming Thurstan College by 25 points to seven points in their Singer inter-school 'A' division league rugby tournament match played at Longden Place last week.

Royal had their own once again as they completely dominated the proceedings while collecting their points from one goal, three tries and one penalty against their opponents solitary goal.

Thurstan of course went into this game with their heads high after having defeated Ananda College in their opening fixture last week. But this time they were up against a more superior outfit as Royal produced a repeat performance to turn the game in their favour.