St. Peter’s College, Colombo managed to defeat Royal College in their own home – Royal Sports Complex to keep their unbeaten tag intact during their Week 7 encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024 played on 27th July, Saturday. The Peterites scored five tries to win the game 31-22 in front of a packed crowd.
Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024
Both teams came into this game having won all their previous matches and the result of this match was always going to be vital for their title aspirations.
Royal skipper Thivain Perera kicked off the game and the hosts won a penalty within the first minute itself when the Peterites were guilty of not releasing the ball in a breakdown. Place-kicker Nabeel Yahiya bisected the posts to commence the scoring (RC 03 – SPC 00)
Soon after, the visitors were down to 14 players as the highest try-scorer of the competition thus far, Vishenka Silva was yellow-carded for tackling in the air.
In the 15th minute of the 1st half, winger Praneeth Silva took a quick tap when the Peterites received a penalty advantage deep inside Royal half. He stepped his way past a couple of Royal defenders to touch down for the very first time. Fly-half Rahul Peter missed the conversion. (RC 03 – SPC 05)
The home team made plenty of infringements which resulted in their front-row forward Ajmal Marikkar was yellow-carded when the game clock was around 22 minutes.
A few minutes later, the visitors used the one-man advantage to great effect and the Royal defense was in disarray to allow center Yumeth Shihara score the 2nd try of the match in the far corner. Rahul Peter failed to convert. (RC 03 – SPC 10)
The Royalists made a few tactical errors by kicking intentionally towards the Peterite back three. That resulted in one of the kicks which was collected by full-back Pasindu Bandara who ran around the Royal defense line by dashing through nearly 75 meters to score a fabulous try. This time, Rahul Peter added the extras. (RC 03 – SPC 17)
Just before the half-time whistle, Peterite winger Vishenka Silva produced a moment of individual brilliance when he ran riot in the Royal defense to score the bonus point securing try having ran through the wide channel for nearly 80 meters. Rahul Peter converted brilliantly. (RC 03 – SPC 24)
Half-time – Royal 03 (1 Penalty) – St. Peter’s 24 (4 Tries, 2 Conversions)
- St. Peter’s Claims a Convincing Victory Over St. Joseph’s
- Royal outclass Wesley with a solid second half
- REPLAY – Royal College vs St. Peter’s College | Dialog Schools Rugby League 2024
After lemons, Royal played to their strengths by holding on for possession and territory but the Peterites were strong in defense. Vishenka Silva scored his 2nd try of the match in the 50th minute of the match as the Peterite backline cracked open the Royal defense yet again. In the meantime, Royal winger Amika Samarasinghe was sent to the naughty chair for a dangerous tackle. (RC 03 – SPC 31)
Royal put in some key substitutes and made sure they put up a few phases which allowed full-back Yuwan Pathirana to score their first try of the match only in the 55th minute. Nabeel Yahiya converted. (RC 10 – SPC 31)
As the Peterites had to play the remainder of the game, exactly for about 9 minutes, when hooker Januka Ranasinghe tackled a player without the ball, Royal managed to score few more consolation tries. Firstly, it was center Disas Pathirana who took a quick tap and barged over the tired Peterite defense line. Nabeel Yahiya converted (RC 17 – SPC 31)
In the last move of the game, Yuwan Pathirana scored his 2nd try whilst Yahiya missed the conversion, but the game was already in the bag for the visitors after an exciting 1st half.
With that win, St. Peter’s College retained the B.C Angie Memorial Trophy for yet another year. Incidentally, before today, St. Peter’s College had last defeated Royal College in a 1st XV encounter at Royal Complex more than a decade ago.
Full Time – Royal 22 (3T, 2C & 1P) – St. Peter’s 31 (5T, 3C)
NDB Player of the Match – Pasindu Bandara
Points Scorers Breakdown
Royal – Yuwan Pathirana 10 points (2 Tries), Disas Pathirana 5 points (1 Try), Nabeel Yahiya 7 points (2 Conversions and 1 Penalty)
St. Peter’s – Vishenka Silva 10 points (2 Tries), Pasindu Bandara 5 points (1 Try), Praneeth Silva 5 points (1 Try), Yumeth Shihara 5 points (1 Try), Rahul Peter 6 points (3 Conversions)
