Royal move up to third place with 38-12 win over Thomians

Chris Dhambarage

Royal College have done it again. They have retained the Michael Gunaratne Trophy for the fifth successive year. Last week they brought down their arch rivals S Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia 38-12 in their annual inter-school rugby encounter.

This was a splendid performance from the Royal outfit and the ideal preparation ahead of this week’s Bradby Shield second leg fixture against traditional rivals Trinity College, Kandy.

Even then the manner in which they completed their task was quite outstanding because they went into this vital match as the underdogs. No doubt they were confident after their success over Trinity College in the previous outing.

However, the Thomians had a formidable line up on paper and they went into this outing with the tag as favourites and were hoping to conclude the league tournament on a successful note.

But they were in for a complete surprise as Royal begun to dictate terms from the kick off through their hard working forwards. This was almost a repeat of last week’s performance as the lads from Reid Avenue took the initiative and went on to build up a commanding 17-5 lead at half time.

Royal consolidated their position in the second half while adding a further 21 points to their tally which helped them to seal the match by a convincing margin at the end.

Altogether Royal planted six tries while conceding just a couple of tries to their opponent’s, a great effort that also pushed them into the third place in the final points table.

Kingswood vs Wesley

Kingswood College produced a superb second half rally to beat their traditional rivals Wesley College 42-20 in their annual inter-school rugby encounter played for the L.E. Blaze Shield at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy.

Even then Kingswood College faced some real stiff opposition especially in the first half and they were trailing 14-15 at half time. They probably underestimated their opponents and also conceded two early tries which put them under some kind of pressure.

However, the home side regrouped in the second half and came into their own to turn the game in their favour while scoring six goals and two penalties. As a result Kingswood College ended up as the runners-up of the Singer Division One League tournament.

The Wesleyites of course will be satisfied with their effort as they showed a tremendous improvement during the last few games of the tournament. They were able to match the Kingswood forwards to a certain extent but their inconsistency on the field has badly let them down.

Isipatana vs Dharmaraja

Isipatana College survived a few anxious moments before overcoming a spirited Dharmaraja outfit 19-17 in their Singer inter-school Under-20 division One league tournament match worked off at the Bogambara Stadium in Kandy last week.

Isipatana probably never anticipated this kind of resistance from their opponents and were somewhat fortunate to get away with the situation.

They were eventually saved by the boot of Malik Jumath who successfully converted four crucial penalties.

Isipatana were completely off colour in their final outing of the tournament and managed to score just a solitary try.

In contrast the Rajans had the unique honour of penetrating the Isipatana goal line on three occasions which certainly boosted their morale although they are placed at the bottom of the points table.

Trinity vs Prince of Wales

Trinity College warmed up for this week’s Bradby Shield second leg fixture with a rousing 106-nil victory over Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa in their Singer inter-school Under 20 Division One league tournament match worked off at the Pallekelle Stadium last week.

Their success of course had some significance because this was the first occasion that a team from Kandy had scored over one hundred points in a match during the current season. The Trinitians had their own from the kick off and went on to collect their points from nine goals and eight tries.

St Peter’s vs St Anthony’s

St Peter’s College celebrated their success in the Singer Division One League tournament with a smashing 24 points to 15 points victory over St Anthony’s College in their final match worked off at the Nittawela Stadium in Kandy last week.

The Peterites of course went into the match having already bagged the league title and further underlined their superiority with another sterling performance. They built up a commanding 24-3 lead at half time and then decided to rest some of their regulars in the second half.

As a result the Antonians were able to make a brief comeback as they had the satisfaction of scoring a goal and a try in addition to converting a penalty. However St Peter’s College had done the damage during the initial stages as they ran down four tries and converted two of them to set the pace for their eighth win of the tournament.