After 70 minutes of rugby action in the southern capital of Galle, there was nothing to separate the two sides Richomond College and St. Aloysius College in the 26th edition of the T. V. Sumanasekara trophy played this evening(15th) at Koggala.
The 26th edition of the Aloysius-Richmond clash kicked off amidst hundreds of fans gathered around for this anticipated encounter.
However, the game did not live up to expectations due to the stop-start nature of play with both teams continuously committing infringements.
It took 24 minutes to break the deadlock when Richmond was awarded a penalty within kicking distance. Malinga Dulara made no error to add the first points (3-0).
When everything was going Richmond’s way, a good first phase ball to the Aloysius fly-half Kavindu Kumara saw them bringing in the hosts first score. With the extras added from Manilka Shehan, Aloysians took the lead at lemons.
Half time: Richmond 3- St. Aloysius 7
Disappointingly, Aloysius failed to hold on to the same intensity of the first half. A 5 meter lineout saw Richmond making good use of the rolling maul and that resulted in Kavindu Amarakoon scoring an important try.
Malinga Dulara added the extras to win back the lead (10-7).
With ten minutes to go to the final whistle, St. Aloysius gave all what they have but were not good enough to turn things around. The Aloysians equalized from Malinga Sheshan’s boot but that was all they could.
Towards the dying stages of the game Richmond College got themselves an angled penalty kick to decide their fate. Malinga Dulara who had a successful day with the boot failed to get the winning score as referee Gihan Yatawara called it full time.
The 26th ended in a draw.
For Aloysius’ it was a chance missed at making it a 3-point but the fightback from Richomond was an indication that the series is well alive.
Full time score: St. Aloysius 10 (1T 1C 1P) – Richmond 10 (1T 1C 1P)
Breakdown
St. Aloysius – try by Kavindu Kumara.
Conversion and penalty by Manilka Shehan
Richmond – try by Kavindu Amarakoon.
Conversion and penalty by Malinga Dulara.
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