The clash between the two dark horses ended in favour of the Peterites and guided them to reach the finish line as the superior team and earn their 02nd victory in the round two cup division encounter. The visitors succeeded in surpassing the home team Zahira College 43(7T 4C) -16 (1T 1C 3P).
The game commenced in crispy weather conditions at Maradana when Zahira College kicked off play. Both teams stepped in to the game savouring defeats in their previous encounters and were looking to brighten up things for their sides. The home team had a healthier start between the two sides as they managed to be the first to tick the point’s table right in the 02nd minute of play through a penalty struck by the boots of Zaid Sinhawansa. (Zahira 03 – St. Peter’s 00).
Loose play from St. Peters saw the Zahirians dominate the first few minutes of play. With the decisive playmaker Stephan Sivaraj being taken off field due to an injury, the Peterites struggled to do anything positive. Costly errors caused by them saw the Zahirans further increase their lead with another penalty through Sinhawansa. (Zahira 06 – St. Peter’s 00).
The Peterites got their act together in the 16th minute and created multiple phases which finally resulted with no.17 Faiz Abdullah scoring an unconverted try in the right corner. (Zahira 06 – St. Peter’s 05).
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St. Peter’s showed a few promising stunts with their backline but failed to do the finishes and score. Capitalizing on this Sinhawansa chipped in another penalty to increase the home teams mark and take them further ahead. (Zahira 09 – St. Peter’s 05).
Right before the half time, skipper Diyath Fernando cut across the Zahira back line and ran over 60 meters to score a splendid try to put his team in the front seat at lemons. He made no mistake in converting his own try to add the extras. (Zahira 09 – St. Peter’s 12).
Half Time – Zahira College 09 – 12 St. Peter’s College
The Peterites delivered a diverse plan in the second half with the backline puzzling the Zahira defenders. They managed to score three tries in the span of 12 minutes through No.9 Raveen Fernando (2T) and crack center Theekshana Heshan (1T). Suhail Fernando managed to add two of the three conversions. (Zahira 09 – St. Peter’s 31)
The Zahirans pounced back in to the game and toiled their way through their forwards and passed over the line through their big prop forward Mohamed Amjad . Sinhawansa failed not to add the 2 points for his team. (Zahira 16 – St. Peter’s 31)
The momentum of Zahira did not last for long as the hefty Peterite forwards trooped across and no.5 Ashen Mendis put in 5 points for his side through an unconverted try. (Zahira 16 – St. Peters 36). In the dying stages of the game substitute M. Irshad was lucky to score his first try through a loose ball in the Zahira red zone. Suhail Fernando added the final two points for the board as referee Jamaldeen blew his long whistle.
Full Time – St. Peter’s College (7T, 4C) 43 – 16 (1T, 1C, 3P) Zahira College
ThePapare.com Player of the match – Diyath Fernando (St.Peter’s College)
Match referee – A. Jamaldeen
ThePapare.com player of the match Diyath Fernando expressed his elation following the win, “The first half was a close tussle, we changed our game plan in the second half and things worked our way. We look forward in keeping this momentum for our next game against S. Thomas’ ”
The score breakdown
St.Peter’s College 43 (12) 7T, 4C
Tries: Faiz Abdullah , Diyath Fernando, Ravin Fernando (2T) , Theekshana Heshan, AshaMendis , M.Irshard
Conversion: Suhail Fernando (3C) Diyath Fernando (1C)Zahira College 16 (09) 1T, 1C , 3P
Tries: Mohamed Amjad
Conversion: Zaid Sinhawansa (1C)
Penalty: Zaid Sinhawansa (3)
