S. Thomas’ came back strongly to hold St. Peter’s to an exciting 25-all draw in their Singer Under-20 Inter-School League Rugby Tournament second-round match played at Bambalapitiya yesterday.
Trailing 12-15 at lemons, the Mount Lavinia boys staged a magnificent come back in the second half to hold the Peterites to a thrilling draw. The winners collected their points from two goals, one try and two penalties. St. Peter’s scored two goals, one try and two penalties.
The draw, in a game which had a nail-biting finish, was good enough for S. Thomas’ to retain the Archibald Perera Memorial Trophy, offered to the winners in the inter-school series, as the current custodians after last year’s win.
The Banbalapitiya school got off to a good start but could not maintain the pace in the second half as Thomians launched a fresh attack after the break with some powerful moves.
Mark Assauw, Raveen Fernando and Suhail Fernando crossed the Thomian line while Theekshana Dassanayake converted two of those tries. Diyath Fernando put over the solitary penalty for St. Peter’s. Naveen Heenakankanamge, Mayon Jayawardena and Shenuk Perera scored a try each for the team from Mount Lavinia.
Aaron Ferdinando and Dion Dias converted a try each. Ferdinando also put over a penalty.
It was a game which kept spectators on the edge of their seats in the entire second half. If Thomians had shown that form right from the first half, they would have made it even by a close margin.