Kingswood College beat St.Josehp’s College 17 points to 13 in their first game of the second round in the Singer under 20 inter- schools League rugby championship. The home team collected their points through 2 goals and a penalty. The visitors scored a goal and two penalties.
Kingswood were clear favorites going into the game remaining unbeaten in the first round and the boys from Darley road had much to prove. Leonard De Silva was back as coach after completing his duties in the Asian Five nations as national coach.
Kingswood attacked from the word ‘go’ dominating the opening quarter of the game not letting the Joes settle down in defense. This gave the home team more attacking ball, but Joes too looked threatening with ball in hand. Both defenses were organized and put in the hard hits to rattle the opposition. It was evident that the Josephians had done their homework as they denied the speedy three quarter line of Kingswood good ball and starved them for space.
It took 20 minutes for the first score of the game to come in, when Kingswood winger Luthisam Jaleel collected the loose ball kicked into open space by fly-half and skipper Asela Wijesinghe to score which was individual brilliance by the winger. He overcame three Josephian defenders in the process. Asela Wijesinghe made no mistake with the conversion. The boys from Darley road came back strongly and with valiant forward play helped their full back Shamilka Kurumbulapitiya who spotted a hole in the Kingswood defense resisted a few defenders to bring the Joes back into the game. Dulith Fernando successfully added the extras. Both teams gave nothing away throughout the game and fought hard for an important win. Minutes before half time Kingswood, through their forwards scored again to go into half time with a seven point lead. Manamendra touched down for Kingswood and the conversion was successful.
Half time : Kingswood College 14 St.Josephs College 07.
The second half was slow paced and static at times. Both teams were guilty of not making use of good ball and the Kingswood Wingers Jaleel and Rafahdeen were not as involved in the game as they were in the first half. On the other hand the Josephians kept their defensive and attacking game intact and dominated play. This resulted in two penalties being awarded to Joes in the opposition half, which Dulith Fernando put over successfully. Trailing by one point Joes kept adding the pressure and Kingswood committed many unforced errors in 3rd and 4th quarters of the game. Shamilka Kurumbulapitiya led the defensive efforts of Joes.
In the dying stages of the game, Kingswood picked their game up to play their natural fast open style of rugby which won them a kickable penalty and Asela Wijesinghe made no mistake to further extend their lead. This was the final act of the game and Kingswood had managed a hard fought win against a spirited Joes team which had brought a different attitude to the second round. It would be interesting to see how they encounter their opponents in the coming weeks. An upset seems to be on the cards.
ThePapare Player of the match = Josehpian Fullback Shamilka Kurumbulapitiya
