St Peter’s College Colombo and St Anthony’s College Kandy took the field last evening for the 2nd Quarter-final of the Milo President’s trophy knock out tournament played at the Royal Complex.
St. Peter’s came in as favorites but St. Anthony’s College put them under pressure very early in the game. Jehan Seelagama kicked the game off but the Peterites hesitated to collect the ball from the kick off. The clearance kick by Stephan Sivaraj went into touch on the full and St. Anthony’s got an early line out in the Peterite red zone. St. Anthony’s won the line and started the rolling maul, pushing the Peterites back. Captain Pasindu Dulshan scored the first try from the back of the maul for St. Anthony’s College. Samuel Maduwantha added the extra points (SPC 00-07 SACK)
A few minutes after the first try Maduwantha tried for a drop goal but it didn’t go the distance; the Peterites collected the ball and counter attacked. That move didn’t go too well for the Peterites as St. Anthony’s got a crucial turnover and with some nice passes the Eagles scored through Dinuk Ameresinghe in the 6th minute. Maduwantha put through the easy conversion (SPC 00-14 SACK)
The Peterites took a few minutes to settle into the game and they scored their first try in the same manner as the Antonian’s; through a line out in the 10 meter line, pushing the Antonians back through a maul. Raveen Yapa finished off the rolling maul in style, giving his team a valuable five points. Sivaraj couldn’t convert the try. (SPC 05-14 SACK)
St .Antony’s got a penalty just outside the 22 meter line as a Peterite player was caught holding on to the ball and Maduwantha was spot on with the kick as he increased his team’s lead to 12 points. (SPC 05-17 SACK)
A stop start game was played in the next few minutes as a few players were injured. A great counter attack was launched by the Peterites through Thakshina Nonis and Avishka Heenpella who offloaded the ball to Thikshana Dassanayaka. He sprinted 50 meters to score under posts for the boys from Bamba. Sivaraj made the easy conversion (SPC 12-17 SACK)
Photo Album – St. Peter’s College v St. Anthony’s College | Milo K/O 2016
Straight after the Peterite try St. Anthony’s got a penalty in front of the sticks and Maduwantha kicked it through with ease adding the much needed three points. (SPC 12-20 SACK)
The next scoring opportunity was when the Peterite Scrum Half Heenpella put pressure on the Antonian scrum half and forced him to delay his pass to Maduwantha. Sivaraj charged down his kick, Sandesh Jayawickrama collected the ball and passed it to his inside Center Thikshana who scored his second try under the posts. Sivaraj was spot on with the kick. (SPC 19-20 SACK)
In the final few minutes of the first half St. Anthony’s took the bold decision not to take a penalty in front of the sticks, taking a quick tap instead. They just worked the line to the corner, enabling winger Janidu Himsara to score near the corner flag. Surprisingly Maduwantha missed the conversion.(SPC 19-25 SACK)
HALF TIME (SPC 19-25 SACK)
St. Peter’s got an early penalty in the second half as an Antonian player was caught off his feet in a ruck. Sivaraj didn’t disappoint his team mates as he added the three points (SPC 22-25 SACK)
The Peterites had more possession in the second half and their forwards played a brilliant game. Peterite Prop Vinul Udukumbura and Raveen Yapa combined with a great run, destroying the Antonian defense and offloading the ball to Thikshana to complete his hat-trick. Sivaraj was on song as converted the difficult penalty (SPC 26-25 SACK)
Three more penalties were scored by the two sides; the first one coming off Maduwantha’s boot (SPC 29-28 SACK)
But Sivaraj’s showed off his kicking skills too to extend the Peterite lead to 4 points, with a 48 meter penalty.(SPC 32-28 SACK)
Maduwantha got the opportunity to close the gap between the teams; he put through a penalty but it turned out to be too little too late for the boys from Katugasthota. (SPC 32-31 SACK)
The Peterites played some good rugby, using their forwards and backs and scored a crucial try through Diyath Fernando; Sivaraj missed the conversion (SPC 37-31 SACK)
St. Anthony’s fought hard to score, but the Peterite defense held strong to take the ‘Bamba Brigade’ to the semifinals for the 1st time since 2013.
The Peterites will face League champions Isipathana College in the semi-finals.
FULL TIME (SPC 37-31 SACK)
ThePapare man of the match – Raveen Yapa (St. Peter’s college)
St. Peter’s college (19) 37
Tries:
Thikshana Dissanayake (3)
Raveen Yapa
Diyath Fernando
Conversions:
Stephan Sivaraj (3)
Penalties:
Stephan Sivaraj (2)
St. Anthony’s College (25) 31
Tries:
Pasindu Dulshan
Dinuk Ameresinghe
Janidu Himsara
Conversions:
Samuel Maduwantha (2)
Penalties:
Samuel Maduwantha (4)
