C. W. W. Kannangara MMV kept their hopes alive of winning the Plate Championship when they defeated Ananda College by 35 points to 17 points in their Singer Inter Schools Under-20 League tournament rugby encounter worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo today.
Kannangara MMV really proved their growing reputation as one of the most talented teams competing in the Plate Championship as they collected their points from five goals after having built up a 14-9 lead at half time.
Kannangara MV who had produced a splendid performance in their previous outing against Wesley College once again showed their class while completely dominating the second half of the game.
In fact this was a very important victory for C. W. W. Kannangara MMV their third in the tournament which also helped them to remain among the top three teams in the Cup Championship points table.
Kannangara MMV really made their intentions quite clear from the kick off and struck twice within the first 20 minutes of play that put them well on course towards recording another comfortable victory.
Fly half Dinesh Lakmal scored his first of two tries shortly after the kick off when he produced a near breathtaking run from mid field to fall over almost under the post after he successfully broke off from a five metre scrumage.
Few minutes later centre three quarter Chamath Perera came out with a clever piece of work when he dummied through the blind side to touch down mid right after the forwards had done the hard work by winning possession from a crucial five metre line out.
Dinesh Lakmal was in the spotlight once again as he converted both tries through some magnificent kicking to give his team a 14 nil lead before Ananda College came back to reduce the margin by putting over three penalties through the boot of full back V. Pushpakumara.
In fact the Anandians did make a determined effort to penetrate their opponents defence during the first half but they simply threw away a couple of chances of scoring due to some poor ball handling.
In contrast Kannangana MMV further consolidated their position in the second half through some splendid fast open rugby while adding three more tries to their tally.
Fly half Dinesh Lakmal went on to score his second try of the match with another superb 25 metre dash shortly after the resumption while second row forward Malaka Madushan and full back Lahiru Herath also joined the try scorers as the winners increased the lead beyond the opponents reach.
Ananda College of course had the satisfaction of scoring a consolation try during the latter stages of the game through centre three quarter L. Madushanka while Pushpakumara added a fourth penalty to complete a successful outing.
Referee: Mahesh Senanayake
