S. Thomas’ College beat St. Anthony’s College by 32 points to 25 in their Dialog Schools Rugby League 2022 encounter, played at Havelock Park yesterday (25).
The match was a thriller from the first half as both teams played end-to-end Rugby from the opening whistle. It was the Thomians who opened the scoring with a try. Yehan Bulathsinghala’s cross field kick was fumbled by the Anthonian player, and the ball fell straight into the hands of Jaden Koch. He did not need any extra invitation to sprint across to the whitewash. (STC 5 – 0 SACK)
The Anthonians responded immediately with a converted try through Somitha Dissanayake. All credit should go to their fly half Sahan Keerthisiri, who chipped the ball over the defensive line, chased it, gathered it and offloaded to Dissanayake to go over. Keerthisiri went on to add another penalty to extend their lead, while his counterpart Bulathsinghala added a three-pointer at the other end. (STC 8 – 10 SACK)
The Thomians hit back out of nowhere, thanks to their backline who worked its way from their own half, running in support as Viviyan De Silva touched down under the posts. Bulathsinghala converted the try and he went on to add another penalty to take back the lead before the break.
Half time: S. Thomas College 18 (2T, 1C, 2P) – St. Anthony’s College 10 (1T, 1C, 1P)
At the start of the first half, the Anthonians cut down the deficit by three points through Keerthisiri. However, they went down to 14 when Jude Realano was sinbinned for a intentional knock on. Despite playing with an advantage, the Thomians failed to add more points. (STC 18 – 13 SACK)
The Thomians found the third try in the 51st minute through Shanal Fernando. The move started from a scrum in the middle of the pitch. The backline got to work and worked their way inside the 22m, which saw Fernando jumping over under the posts. Bulathsinghala added the extras. (STC 25 – 13 SACK)
St Anthony’s were down 14 yet again, when 2nd half replacement Oshan Gunasekara was sinbinned for a late tackle. Minutes later, Thomian try scorer Fernando was given the marching orders to make it even on the field.
However, S. Thomas’ found their bonus point try shortly afterwards through Mahith Perera. It was Thomian winger Akira Perera who made the run deep inside the attacking half, which gave the chance to Mahith Perera to jump over. Bulathsinghala added the extras. (STC 32 – 13 SACK)
Despite trailing by 19 points, the Antonians showed fight in the last ten minutes to find two tries to beat out some respect on the score line. The Thomians went down to 13, after Shehan Selvanayagam was sinbinned. This opened a chance for the Antonians. The first try came from Jeyan Amarasinghe, who forced himself over from a rolling maul before a second try came through Sahan Keerthisiri, who barged over from close range.
Full Time: S Thomas College 32 (4T, 3C, 2P) – St Anthony’s College 25 (3T, 2C, 2P)
- NDB Player of the Match: Yehan Bulathsinghala (STC)
Point Scorers for S. Thomas’ College –
Jaden Koch 1T, Viviyan De Silva 1T, Shanal Fernando 1T, Mahith Perera 1T, Yehan Bulathsinghala 3C 2P
Point Scorers for St. Anthony’s College –
Somitha Dissanayake 1T, Jeyan Amarasekara 1T, Sahan Keerthisiri 1T 2C 2P
