Decisive last minute penalty kick by Peterite flyhalf Jayawickrema sealed a close 13-12 victory for St. Peter’s College against the hosts Kingswood College Kandy in the Singer Schools Rugby Division I encounter played at Bogambora this evening.
Score Summary – St. Peter’s College 13 to Kingswood College 12
Kicking off the second week fixtures for the year, Kingswood College Kandy had one win under their belt which was their season opener against the Wesley College to retain the Blaze trophy whilst their counterparts, the Bamba brigade had to surrender the Rev. Fr. Basil Weerathunga trophy to the Josephians. This was a must win for the Peterites while the Kingswoodians were opting to continue an unbeaten streak.
The opening phases of play were quite disappointing as both teams lacked composure resulting in a countless array of stopovers throughout the game. St. Peter’s were missing the worthy contributions of their reknown skipper Kevin Dixon due to his injury as Nishon Perera was in charge. The first half was passive with no team making a clear statement with a set of eventful stoppages. With 20 minutes elapsed, Kingswood skipper Reeza Raffaideen got the opportunity to draw first blood during two successive penalty kicks but both kicks drifted leftwards leaving the scores at nil-all.
The Bamba brigade got their act sorted out at one point barging through the Kings forwards in the dying stages of the first half but the efforts of the Peterite lock Delpachithra proved futile as the ball knocked forward inches ahead of the try. However just before the call for lemons, Flyhalf Jayawickrema kicked an easy 22m to take his team ahead at half time.
HT SPC 3 KCK 0
The second half showcased the true potent of the sides to an extent but Kingswood were first in getting the scores on board. Ten minutes hence, Kingswood’s Faris Ali kicked in a box kick allowing him to collect the kicked ball after the visiting fullback missing it allowing him to score right under the posts. The first points which came on board with the try was further increased through Raffaideen’s conversion to surpass the Peterite total. (7-3)
The visitors, being famous for their comebacks over the past years, triggered a possible fight back as an infringement off a Kingswood player allowed skipper Nishon Perera to take the quick tap and make his way single-handedly to the try line. Scoring the first try for the day, Perera at the onset looked to set an example by leading his men from the front. As Jayawickrema making no mistake, St. Peter’s were back in the lead with a 3 point lead (10-7).
As the game progressed to the final ten minutes, it was Kingswood who got the edge off the sloppy ball handling of the Peterite back division. A scrum within 5 meter distance gave the Kingswood scrum half Shenan to go wide on his left to Kasun Wimaweera who cruised through the line for the second. Despite missing the conversion, Kingswood had themselves the lead (12-10).
As the Peterites aggravated their attack in lust of that winning try, they missed three occasions of scoring with the ball being knocked on at the very try line. At one instance, they almost scored but to sharp refereeing by the lines made the right judgment to void the try. As St. Peter’s failed in their attempt to reach for the try line and time running out on their side, they opted to go for points in the dying stages when they were gifted with a penalty by the hosts. Flyhalf Jayawickrema made no mistake in the 22m penalty to take his team to the first win of the year.
As the Peterite’s cherished their victory, both teams faired considerable in an average note. Play seemed to stop almost every now and then and swift movement of play was never witnessed. St. Peter’s in fact missed out couple of chances. Kingswood had a good game on books, their throws coming in straight and their three quarters being the highlight. Unfortunate for them, they missed out on a victory.
ThePapare names Faris Ali of Kingswood College as the Player of the match for his efforts in scoring the try as well as gameplay.
It was disappointing to see fans lashing out at the match referee at the end of the game as the virtues of the sport should always be entertained in a positive manner either at win or loss.
Full Time score
St. Peters College 13 (1G 2P Try by Nishon Perera, Conversion and Penalties by S.R. Jayawickrema (9 points) to Kingswood 12 (1G 1T, Tries by Kasun Wimalasiri, Faris Ali and Conversion by Reeza Raffaideen)
