Peterites in sensational win over Trinity

Chris DHAMBARAGE

The defending champions St. Peter’s College created the biggest upset in the current season when they brought down the high riding Trinity College team in their Singer Inter-School Under-20 Division One Group ‘A’ League Rugby Tournament match worked off at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy.

The Peterite victory had a great amount of significance because they were performing away from home and the result has also raised their hopes of retaining the title for the second successive year.

This was easily their best performance for the season as they overcame all odds and a great amount of pressure before registering a memorable 15 points to 10 points victory. With this result the race for the ‘A’ Division championship has turned out to be a three cornered tussle between St. Peter’s College, Trinity College and Kingswood College.

The Peterites really worked hard for their success and looked a more determined side as they collected their points from one goal, one try and one penalty. The Trinitians also scored two tries during a superb comeback in the second half.

However the fact is that St. Peter’s College enjoyed more territorial advantage and had more scoring opportunities than their opponents. Their fly half Harsha Weerakkody was outstanding where he contributed ten points and also scored the match winning try for his team at a vital stage of the game.

Trinity College had staged their famous late rally by scoring twice in their attempt to pull off another thrilling victory. They have been very successful in this form in the past where they came from behind to beat S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia and their home town rivals St. Anthony’s College respectively.

But this time they were up against a more dynamic and well organized team as the Peterites were not prepared to throw this match away after having done all the hard work during the initial stages. They had a similar experience at the start of the season when they gifted a match to S. Thomas’ College after been very much in control of the situation.

The lads from Bambalapitiya seem to have learned a lot from those past setbacks and this time they made certain that they keep their momentum until the final whistle.

S. Thomas’ v Isipatana

S. Thomas’ College powered their way to score a morale boosting 17 points to 15 points victory over Isipatana College in another close Division One Group ‘A’ League Rugby Tournament match played at Mount Lavinia.

The Thomians coming after two shocking defeats at the hands of Trinity College and Kingswood College did well to get back into the winning formula with an improved performance in this crunch game.

Their morale was shattered in the last two week’s with their chances of winning the title also fading away. But this time they were able to raise their game to a great extent and that against a more confident Isipatana side was a tremendous achievement.

In fact Isipatana went into this game with their heads high after having notched up three successive victories against Royal College, St. Anthony’s College and Dharmaraja College Kandy respectively.

But S. Thomas’ College were equal to the task as they bounced back in style while even surprising their more fancied opponents. In fact the home side stormed into a commanding 17 points to nil lead shortly after the interval and looked well set to register a convincing victory.

However a little bit of complacency crept into the Thomian camp at this stage and that allowed Isipatana College to stage a fight back during the latter stages of the game.

In fact Isipatana did well to reduce the margin to just a couple of points following a tremendous effort where they scored two brilliant tries under tremendous pressure.

They even had the opportunity of forcing a 17 all draw to the match had skipper Dinusha Chaturanga added the extra points to their second try. Nevertheless this was a great performance by the lads from Havelock Town where they almost turned defeat into a memorable victory.

Royal v St. Anthony’s

Royal College cruised to a comfortable 25 points to 12 points victory over St. Anthony’s College in their Singer Inter-School Under-20 Division One Group ‘A’ League Rugby Tournament match worked off at Reid Avenue.

Royal will be quite satisfied with this performance except for their place kicker Duminda Arttygalle who gave a pathetic display where he failed to convert any of their tries.

This certainly prevented them from winning the game by a much bigger margin and this could also be vital factor in a close encounter. Royal College touched down on five occasions in one of their best performances this season with Sri Lanka youth player Bilal Hassan leading the way.

The dynamic number eight played a big hand in their success while leading the pack brilliantly and also initiating a number of scoring opportunities.

Even then it was in the second half that Royal really played to their true potential after having taken a close 10-5 lead at half time. The Antonians of course had all the reasons to feel confident going into this clash after they went down by a solitary point to their home town rivals Trinity College in the previous week.

However Royal proved too superior in the second half as they came into their own while running down three more tries to seal the game in their favour.

Dharmaraja v Vidyartha

Dharmaraja College tasted success for the first time this season as they defeated Vidyartha College by 43 points to nil in their Singer Inter-School Under-20 Division One Group ‘A’ League Rugby Tournament match worked off at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy.

This victory would certainly give the Rajans a great amount of confidence to face the rest of their opponents in the tournament. They have been trying hard in their last few outings unsuccessfully against some tough opposition.

Dharmaraja College have played some good rugby this season and almost scored an upset win over S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia and also provided Royal College some real anxious moments in Colombo.

This time of course they were up against a weak opposition Vidyartha College who are currently placed at the bottom of the points table. The Rajans grabbed the opportunity to prove their capabilities and ran down as many as seven tries and converted four of them to complete a rousing victory.

Prince of Wales v Wesley

Prince of Wales College Moratuwa came out with another giant killing performance to force a thrilling 15 all draw to their Singer Inter-School Under-20 Division One Group ‘B’ League Rugby Tournament match against Wesley College at Havelock Park.

The Cambrians have made steady progress since their promotion into the Division One tournament and this was another fantastic effort against a more experienced outfit. In their previous outing they toppled the more fancied Ananda College team and once again they have proved themselves with another superb all round effort.

Prince of Wales College were trailing 5-12 at half time but came back magnificently to level the scores in the second half with both teams scoring a goal, one try and one penalty.

St. Joseph’s v Thurstan

St. Joseph’s College moved closer towards wining the Division One Group ‘B’ title with another easy victory over Thurstan College in their inter-school fixture played at Longden Place.

In fact this was the sixth successive victory for the Josephians who continue to remain on top of the points table for another week.

Even then St. Joseph’s will be somewhat disappointed that they could not pile up a big score after having built up a 24-7 lead at half time.

They could not add any points to their tally in the second half mainly due to some solid defence and great spoiling work from the Thurstanites.

The Joes collected their points from two goals and two tries with all scoring being done in the first half. Thurstan College responded with a solitary goal in the second half.