As the skies hailed thunder and sluiced down water, the Nittawela stadium was brought to life by Kingswood College Kandy and the hosts, St.Anthony’s College Kandy for yet another spectacle of Rugby for the spectators that overflowed braving the weather.
The Kingswood Camp captained by Asela Wijesingha was able to snatch everything there was from the Antonians for a comfortable win of 37 points to 18 at Nittawela today. Although the heavens hailed and thundered, Kingswood continued to exhibit their rugged toughness in their 3rd match in the Schools Rugby season.
The first half could well fall under the category of mundane if the first 10 minutes of the game were factored out of the equation in which St Anthony’s was able to bag 2 penalties which comprised their total score for the first half, while Kingswood took an early try to get themselves off the mark.
However during the latter end of the first half Kingswood showed rejuvenation when M.Manamendra broke onto a sprint from a well placed line out to score a try. The Kingswood camp was able to draw blood yet again when the Kingswood powerhouse A.Priyankara was able to haul two Antonian players along with him to the try line from a scrum on the 5 line making the overall score 20- 6 in favor of Kingswood at the breather.
Although it was apparent that the weather slowed play and caused changes in strategies, Kingswood was able to capitalize on almost all mistakes made by the Antonian players making it a rather comfortable tussle for them at Nittawela.
The second quarter was indeed action packed to state the least, both teams scored most during the latter part of the game, making it truly a spectacle for everyone in the stands. The Antonians showed signs of life in the second half when Ashan Wijewardena was able to score a well worked try in a desperate attempt to cling onto the dire situation for his team on the scoreboard. Although his attempts were made futile when Kingswood wing T.Jaleel singlehandedly sprints for a 20 meter try which was indeed extravagant.
T.Jaleels efforts were overshadowed when a similar incident occurred yet again and this time the lone sprinter for the Kingswood camp was D.Atigoda who picked pace almost from the half line to score a dazzling try. Everyone was led to believe that the Antonians had given up hope at this point of the game when Kingswood was showing uncontested dominance, and yet again Ashan Wijewardena from the St Anthony’s camp rose to the occasion to score a surprising try which was then converted by Nimesha Gunasingha to add to a tally which at this point was almost insurmountable for the Antonians
The last try before the ling whistle came from the captain of the Kingswood camp himself, Asela Wijesingha, who along with his team worked the ball with dominance and certain elegance up to the try line itself. He later went onto convert the try to seal the victory for his team.
At the long whistle, the skies were hailing harder than ever, the Kingswood supporters more so all in favor of Kingswood who had won at the St.Anthonys home ground in style. The scores at the end of the game read 37 -10 in favor of Kingswood.
The 37 points for Kingswood comprised of 6 tries and one goal, whilst the 18 points in favor of the Anthonians were made up of 2 penalties one try and one goal. Although hefty mistakes were made by both teams throughout the game, Kingswood, clearly the better team at the field was able to exert and exhibit their dominant prowess throughout the course of the game.
ThePapare Player of the Match – T.I.Jaleel
