Wesleyites take home long awaited silverware

Wesley College Colombo managed to overcome a spirited Dharmaraja College 12-07 in the grand finale to claim the Cup Championship of the U16 Ten’s tournament while Isipathana, Science and Vidyartha secured the Plate, Bowl and Shield segments respectively. Many favorites crashed out early after being handed thumping defeats, in the two day tournament played out at the Pallekalle Stadium in Kandy.

The two best teams in the tournament, Wesley College and Dharmaraja College worked their way up the ladder in commanding fashion being unbeaten along the way crashing other teams without mercy. The much awaited final between them began amidst the huge crowd present at the Pallekale stadium.

Wesley got the upper hand in the first half through the clinical restarts, winning possession over through two early penalties resulting in two tries eventually leading into half time 12 points to nil. Wesley looked like they were on the verge of repeating the likes of their huge victory against Isipathana College earlier in the day.

Half Time: Wesley 12 (2T 1C) – 00 Dharmaraja

However, not to be so, the Rajans who had staged a clinical comeback win against the Josephians in the semi-finals trailing at half time in a somewhat similar situation scored first along with the conversion cutting back the deficit.

But that was all they could muster and get on the board as Wesley held on to the one try margin, after the Rajans had squandered a golden chance on the brink of the full time whistle. The Dharmaraja winger found space after he had broken through, although he had numbers out wide with no defenders on his tail, he decided to go on his own before being caught by the Wesleyite sweeper who turned the ball over to secure victory.

Full Time: Wesley 12 (2T 1C) – 07 (1T 1C) Dharmaraja

Earlier in the day Wesley, Dharmaraja, St. Joseph’s and Royal turned up on top in their quarter final matches. The Royal – Trinity clash turned out to be a mouth-watering cliffhanger as the Royal fly-half slipped through the gate to cruise to the left corner sealing victory in extra time. St. Joseph’s came from behind to bite the Peterites for their poor handling as they won 12-10 while Wesley and Dharmaraja thumped Isipathana and the Antonians convincingly booking their spots in the semis.

Later on Wesley overcame Royal by 2 tries to one in the first cup semi-final. Wesley who ran away with the first half got cornered trying to take things for granted but had class and composure to hold on. The Joes however failed to hold onto a 12 to nothing lead at Half time as Dharmaraja put through a solid second half performance to clinch victory from behind.

Cup Quarter Finals:

QF 1 – Trinity College 00-05 Royal College

QF 2 – Isipathana College 00-19 Wesley College

QF 3 – St. Peter’s College 10-12 St. Joseph’s College

QF 4 – Dharmaraja College 33-00 St. Anthony’s College

The losers of the Quarter finals next met in the Plate Semi – Finals as Isipathana emerged victorious in the final against Peters 21-0. Isipathana defeated Trinity 10-5 while the Peterites booked their spot after an extra time winner against the Antonians after being tied up at 19-all.

Plate Finals

Plate Final – Isipathana 21-00 St. Peter’s

Plate Semi-Finals

Isipathana College 10-05 Trinity

St. Peter’s College 26-19 St. Anthony’s

Meanwhile D.S.Senanayake, St. Sylvester’s, Science and Kingswood College emerged into the Bowl Semi – finals proving a little too strong for the other teams in the draw. Science destroyed Kingswood while DS went a little easy of the St. Sylvester’s in the Semi –finals.

Bowl Quarter-Finals

Bowl Semi-Finals

However, in the end Science overcame DS 12-0 to win the Bowl in this year’s tournament.  

Bowl Finals

The Shield results were as follows.  

Shield Quarter Finals: