Beat Trinity by 12 points to 11:

Science create biggest upset of the season

[Schools Rugby Review]

Chris Dhambarage

Science College Mount Lavinia have created the first major upset in the current inter school rugby season. Last week they produced a tremendous performance to beat the high riding Trinity outfit 12-11 in an absolute thriller on their home grounds.

Their effort had a great amount of significance and their success was a historic one as they had the better of the more fancied Kandy school for the first time in an under 19 encounter.

Science College who were promoted to the Singer Division One tournament from this year came out with their best performance to collect their points from one goal and one try against their opponent’s solitary try and two penalties.

The manner in which they completed their task was quite outstanding after having started the game as complete outsiders following two defeats at the hands of St. Joseph’s College (24-28) and the defending champions St. Peter’s College (7-48).

But this time they got their act together well for the first time in the season and grabbed the opportunity to register their first victory of the tournament. They stuck to their basics and committed less number of mistakes while providing a good lesson against one of the pioneers in schools rugby.

Royal v Isipatana

Royal College continued with their unbeaten record this season when they pulled off a hard fought 11-10 victory over Isipatana College in their annual encounter played at the Royal Sports Complex.

Royal survived another close call as they collected their points from one try and two penalties against their opponents two unconverted tries and went on to regain the Milroy Fernando Trophy.

Royal seem to have made it a habit to come from behind and pull off their games as for the third occasion in as many matches this year they have faced a similar situation.

In their previous outing Royal went through a similar experience as they snatched a dramatic 33-32 victory against Wesley College.

This time they were up against even a tough opponent but yet they were able to snatch the game in a spectacular manner.

They were trailing 3-5 at half time but came back strongly in the second half with skipper and number eight Shehan Pathirana scoring the solitary try. However once again it was their fly half Arshad Jamaldeen who made the difference at the end by converting two crucial penalties.

St. Joseph’s v Wesley

St. Joseph’s College further underlined their presence in the Singer Division One League tournament by holding Wesley College to an exciting 13 all draw in their annual fixture worked off at Longden Place.

The Joes who were promoted to the premier division this season have already made a fine impact in their own style in the three outings they have played so far in the tournament.

In their previous game they had the better of Science College 28-24 after having gone down fighting against Royal 31-38.

This time they produced another sensational performance to score a last minute try and to share the honours with their opponents.

In fact St. Joseph’s were sliding towards defeat at one stage but their sheer courage and determination and the will to succeed have always made them a difficult side to bring down.

Even then for Wesley College this was another missed opportunity as they threw away the game once again during the dying moments after having done all the hard work at the beginning.

Kingswood v S. Thomas

Kingswood College produced a power packed performance to beat S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia 63-6 in a one sided encounter in their inter school under 19 encounter.

Kingswood completely dominated the game as they ran down as many as eleven tries while converting four of them to demolish the opposition having built up a commanding 29-3 lead at half time. The Kandy school also redeemed some of their lost prestige following a 0-41 drubbing at the hands of their home town rivals Trinity College in their previous outing.

The Thomians seem to be still struggling to recover from their 6-75 bashing at the hands of Trinity College as they failed to make any kind of impact for the third successive outing.

St. Peter’s v Dharmaraja

The reigning champions St. Peter’s College cruised to their third successive victory while overcoming Dharmaraja College 54-5 in their Singer inter school under 19 rugby tournament fixture. The formidable Peterites had little difficulty in clearing their hurdle as they underlined their authority while collecting their points from seven goals and one try.

As a result St. Peter’s have now collected a staggering 163 points which includes 27 tries while conceding only 25 points to their opponents.

Trinity v Kingswood

Trinity College had the satisfaction of recording a convincing 41 nil victory over Kingswood College in their inter school under 19 rugby tournament match played last week.

The Trinitians were far too superior to their opponents as they sealed the game while scoring seven tries and converting three of them.

St. Anthony’s v Thurstan

St. Anthony’s College after two defeats came back strongly to beat Thurstan College 28-7 in their Singer inter school under 19 Division One tournament match worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium. The Antonians produced an improved performance after a disappointing start to the tournament as they turned the game in their favour while collecting their points from two goals, one try and three penalties.