St. Anthony’s hang onto a draw against St. Joseph’s

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Correspondent

St. Anthony’s College, Kandy and St. Joseph’s College, Colombo battled out to a seven all draw in a mud larker game in their schools under 19 division one segment A rugby tournament match played at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy yesterday. At lemons the score stood at 7 all with the two teams getting their from a goal each.

A heavy downpour was experienced for one hour, which lasted nearly 50 minutes and made ground conditions not only slippery but also wet and muddy. At one stage it appeared that the match could not be played under the prevailing conditions which even the referee thought so.

The match got under way at 5.05 p.m. - 35 minutes after the scheduled start.

When play resumed after the breather it was semi dark and the light conditions progressively deteriorated and the players on the field could be hardly seen.

Referee Dimithri Gunasekera tried his level best to stretch the game as far as possible. But with about 23 minutes of play in the second half, he could not see the players and was compelled to call off the match after consulting the match commissioner Reuben Wijewardena.

Despite the wet and slippery ground condition the game started off on a brisk note with the Antonians pressing through their forwards. In the fifth minute No. 8 Pandula Angammana carried the ball in to the Josephian territory and was brought down from the ensuing main skipper and hooker Yakoob Ali powered his way to score by the right post. Full back Hemantha added the extra points. Antonians led 7-0.

In the period of play which followed both teams tried hard to score. The Antonians trying to extend their lead and the Josephian to draw level.

On one occasion frayed tempers were seen and a few blows were exchanged and referee Dimithri Gunasekera to have a firmer control of game sent on ‘Sin fin’ St. Joseph’s prop forward Stephen Gregory and Antonian lock forward R. Romesh.

It was in the 30th minute of this half that the Josephian scored when their centre Hasuru Gunawardena booted the loose ball 35 metres in front and raced ahead to score mid left. Fly half Dulith Fernando added the extra points. Josephians had drawn level 7 all.

The match continued with the players battled in mud after wiping the wet ball.

When it turned out to be impossible to continue as it was dark, the referee called off the game with 23 minutes of play remaining.

Dimithri Gunasekera refereed.