Peterites in majestic 41-nil win over Royal

Ranjeeva SENEVIRATNE

RUGBY: St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya came up with a power-packed display to crush Royal College by 41 points (three goals, four tries) to nil in their schools under-20 ‘A’ Division League Rugby match played at Bambalapitiya yesterday after leading 10-nil at the breather.

It was a marvellous display by the Peterites who played like a true champion team to completely outplay the Royalists. Their forwards reigned supreme in the loose.

Number eight Ishan Noor was a source of inspiration to his team-mates with his fiery loose play and was ably supported by Bopitiya, Samson Roy, Bulner, Sharo Fernando and Poornaka Delpechitra.

The three-quarters also gave a dazzling display with centres Dilshan Paul, Harsha Weerakkody and winger Viduranga Karunaratne punching holes in the Royal defence time and again with their side-stepping and speed.

Full back Shanaka Gunasekara was also a tower of strength with his safe collections and booming kicks to touch. He also stood out in attack and capped a fine performance by scoring his team’s final try.

The Peterites opened scoring in the 14th minute when off a second phase move in the Royal ‘25’ scrum half Ranuka Jayasinghe slung out a pass to prop forward Arjuna Bopitiya who barged through to touch down mid right Irfath Meedin missed the conversion.

Ten minutes later Royal were awarded a 25 metre penalty, but full back Shailendra Chandrasekera’s kick went astray.

On the stroke of half time the Peterites won a scrum in the Royal ‘25’ and scrum half Ranuka Jayasinghe set the three-quarters in motion and winger Viduranga Karunaratne put the finishing touches to the move by falling over for an unconverted try by the right corner flag and the Peterites led 10-nil at the breather.

In the 3rd minute after resumption off a loose maul in mid field scrum half Ranuka Jayasinghe slipped out a pass to sturdily built number eight Ishan Noor who powered his way for over 50 metres brushing aside several defenders to fall over under the posts for a glorious try. Harsha Weerakkody added the extra points.

Seven minutes later off a second phase move in the Royal ‘25’ Peterite flanker Poornaka Delpachitra crashed through for a try under the posts.

Harsha Weerakkody made no mistake with the conversion to make it 24-0. In the 17th minute of the second half off a move which began in mid field centre Dilshan Paul dashed through for over 30 metres to score under the posts. Weerakkody surprisingly missed the conversion (St. Peter’s 29-0).

Seven minutes later fly half Irfath Meedin made a break in mid field and slipped out a pass to centre Dilshan Paul who sped over 40 metres to score under the posts. Weerakoddy added the extra points to make it 36-0.

In the 30th minute Peterite full back Shanaka Gunasekera collected a desperate kick by a Royal defender and dummied his way for over 30 metres to fall over for an unconverted try by the left corner flag to give the Peterites a majestic 41-0 win.

It was St. Peter’s biggest win over Royal surpassing the previous highest of 24-0 registered by Rajith Abeygunawardena’s Peterite team in 1985 at Reid Avenue.

Referee: Dilroy Fernando