Trinity bounce back to trounce Antonians

S.M. Jiffrey ABDEEN Kandy Sports Corr. at Pallekele

Trinity College bounced back to trounce their traditional home town rivals St. Anthony’s College by the huge margin of 49 points (3 goals, 5 tries, 1 drop goal) to 10 (2 tries) in their schools under-20 ‘A’ rugby tournament match played at Trinity Rugby Stadium at Pallekelle yesterday.

At half time Trinity led 19-10.

The Antonians were able to put up a good fight in the first half by restricting the loins which gave them hopes of a second half rally.

But that was never to be as the lions went on the rampage to accumulate 30 points in the last 30 minutes against an Antonian defence which had run out of steam.

There was no doubt that the lions completely dominated all departments of the game and their play in the loose was outstanding.

Though the Trinitians had 49 points to their credit at the final whistle, they did not open their account till the 17th minute of play when No. 8 Indiris Omar took custody of the ball from the ruck to send winger Kennan Armstrong to score under the post.

Lock Gotabhaya Mahesh added the extra points.

Three minutes later centre Akila Dissanayake intercepted a pass inside the Antonian ‘22’ and scored mid lift. This try went unconverted.

In the 26th minute the Antonians came into the game when they won a line out deep inside Trinity territory and skipper and centre Amila Weligampola ran about 20 metres to score by the right corner flag. That try went unconverted.

Three minutes later Trinity was awarded a penalty try when an Antonian defender obstructed lock forward Gotabhaya Mahesh in the in goal area. Mahesh added the extra points. The Antonians reduced the lead in the 34th minute when they moved the ball for winger Dinesh Liyanage to put the finishing touches. This try went converted. Teams went for the short break with the lions leading 19-10.

But the lions cut loose in the second half to amass 30 points to swallow up the eagles in the what appeared to be a ‘no contest’ show. The Antonians found the power play of the Trinitians too much in the second half to succumb under pressure.

Two more tries by centre Akila Dissanayake both going unconverted saw Trinity increasing their lead to 29-10.

Antonian defence was so suspect that in 25th minute stand off Rohan Weerakoon seeing an open field executed a simple 20 metre drop goal.

In the 30th minute skipper and winger Viswajith Wijesinghe pounced on the loose ball and sent a pass to centre Akila Dissanayake who sprinted 30 metres to score under the posts. This was Dissanayake’s fourth try. Mahesh added the extra points.

Two minutes later another 20 metre sprint by centre Akila Dissanayake resulted in him touching down his fifth try - mid right. Mahesh failed to add the extra points with the ball striking the horizontal bar. Trinity had wrapped the proceedings leading 44-10.

In the dying stages of the game an Antonian played failed to collect a pass and Trinity’s scrum half Adeeb Hameed hacked the loose ball before collecting it to score mid right. This try went unconverted.

Pradeeep Fernando refereed.

Results of the Junior Games.

Under-16 Trinity won 10-3. Under-14 Trinity won 47-0, Under-12 Trinity won 47-0.