There was top class rugby in the second week of matches in the much awaited inter-school league rugby season last week as one team produced a giant killing performance.
All the fancied teams were able to win their matches except St. Peter’s College that was made to eat the humble pie by the underdogs Vidyartha College Kandy who triumphed 11-7 in one of the most exciting games in the Dialog sponsored tournament this year.
It was a pleasing sight to see the Vidyartha lads coming out on top against a top notch school rugby team like St. Peter’s College and dishing out some cracking rugby to the delight of the cheering Kandy crowd.
The first half belonged to Vidyartha who took a 5-0 lead at the breather and the second half saw the Peterites attempting to come back into the game. But some effective tackling by the faster Vidyartha players kept the Peterites at bay until almost the end when they scored their only try much to the utter dismay of their supporters.
Vidyartha’s 11 points came through one try scored by Ranidu Gajanayake with Menuka Thilakarathna slotting in the two penalties while for the losing Peterites the solitary try was scored by winger Vishenka Silva with Emith Jayaweera firing across the conversion.
Kodithuwakku try guides Trinity to win
Trinity College did well to overcome St. Anthony’s College Kandy by 25 points to 18 at Nittawela after trailing 10-11 at half time.
Both teams played a fast brand of rugby and exploited the mistakes of each other, but the Trinity outfit appeared to play with more cohesion than their opponents the Antonians. It resulted in the host team marking their superiority on a promising note by touching down their first try of the match through scrum-half Shaveen Premerathne, who slipped through an empty blind-side to score the opening try for Trinity just minutes after kick-off.
The second half put the Trinitians on the ascendency when they scored two more tries that gave them a tally of three tries with Chamendra Dhanapala touching down for the second try.
Then came the third and match-winning try for Trinity from Anuhas Kodithuwakku who crept through to score. Full-back Kovida Wickramasinghe put over the two penalties and the two conversions.
For the losing Antonians, their two tries were scored by winger Omitha Dissanayake and prop forward Sadula Athukorala while Keerthisiri put over two penalties and the only conversion.
Isipathana off to their second win
Isipathana College’s rugby team has improved immensely from the last league tournament and did well to overcome Wesley College who were the favourites by 10 points to nil in their match played at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
Even though the match was a closely contested battle for supremacy, it was the green machine that impressed more on the day while the Wesley College lads appeared to be off course in the entire second half. At half time the scores were deadlock at nil all.
Second row forward Soorya Dodangoda scored the match winner for Isipathana while their only penalty and conversion was put over by Rinesh Silva.
Defending champs Royal thrash Kingswood
As expected one of the leading favourites for the league championship, defending champ Royal College thrashed a hapless Kingswood College Kandy by 53 points to nil after a half time score of 33-0.
As the game progressed the Royal outfit exerted their authority over the inexperienced Kingswood team and began mounting their three-quarter moves at will.
In the line-outs Royal jumpers completely out-jumped their opponents while in the loose the Royal forwards played a tireless game as they do most of the time.
The Royal three-quarters made some superb moves which caught the Kingswood lads on the wrong foot many times over and over again in the entire match.
For the winners the eight tries were scored by Pasindu Heshan - 2, Kaveen Sasanga - 2, Supun Gamlath, Rahil Wijesekara, Navin Perera and Shenal Adhikaram one try each while Nabil Yahiya put over five conversions and a solitary penalty.
Dharmaraja and Science in 15-15 draw
Science College Mt. Lavinia held the fancied Dharmaraja College to a thrilling 15-15 draw at Kandy, after leading 7- 5 at the breather.
The ball handling was good from both teams but Science’s territorial game was superb which proved to be a little too much for the Dharmara lads.
Science responded with two tries from Malshan Dewmin and Sachin Aloka while fly-half Nadun Kaveesha fired across the only conversions as well as the solitary penalty while the Dharmaraja lads scored two tries while adding the extra points to one try and also put over the only penalty.
Joes lucky to beat S. Thomas’
With their heavy set of forwards, St. Joseph’s College edged out their fighting opponents the Thomians 30-28 in a thrilling game of rugby at Havelock Park to regain the Lady Jayathilake Shield.
The Joes recorded a four-try bonus point win over their fame counterparts and at half time they led 17-10.
Unfortunately though, the young Thomian fly half Bulathsinghalage missed the difficult touchline conversion to a late try which would have brought a spectacular draw for the school by the sea as the Joes hung on to win a cliffhanger and secure the Lady Jayatilleke shield in the end.
Joes’ four tries came through Number Eight Naveen Marasinghe - three and Jehan Athukorale - one, with fly half Dilhara Subash slotting in the two conversions and the two penalties while for the unfortunate losers their three tries were scored by captain Charya Kulukulasuriya, fly half Bulathsinhalage and winger Jaden Koch while the two conversions and the two penalties were put over by Bulathsinghalage.