Trinity College Kandy went on to register their second win for the 2015 season beating their traditional rival St. Anthony’s College Kandy 49-13 in their Singer Schools Rugby Division I game held at the Nittawela Rugby Stadium this evening.
Rugby was once again back to Nittawela after last week’s Clifford cup finals, this time with St. Anthony’s hosting Trinity in their first home game. On paper, the visitors for the day were ahead of their counterparts with a win as the Antonians were looking for their first win for the season.
Under rainy conditions, play kicked off with St. Anthony’s getting the first chance at the posts. As their full back Maduwantha Kumara missed out on an easy penalty, it was lock forward Shermal Weerasekara who brought in the first points on board as he pushed through a rolling maul. (5-0) The try was not converted as Maduwantha Kumara’s kick drifted left ward. Thereafter his counterpart Sanushka Abeywickrema added the first points on board for the visiting team in his opportunity at the posts (3-0).
Trinity had the undue advantage as play progressed when the Antonian hooker was sent to the naughty seat for an infringement by the referee as outside center Sachintha Dissanakaya crossed over via a well executed three-quarter move side stepping the last defender to score. Dissanayaka’s try was followed up by lock, Rahul Karunathilake who spotted the gap scored easily right under the posts. Sanushka Abeywickrema converted one of the two tries scored as Trinity College had a 10 point advantage (15-5).
Towards the 30th minute of play, Sachintha Dissanyaka showcased a repeat performance of his earlier move to score Trinity’s third. The try came off an offload from Rahul Karunathilake as Abeywickrema made no error in the conversion (22-5). Just before the half time mark, the Antonian skipper Dilan Neuman opted to go for the posts as Maduwantha Kumara kicked a successful penalty to take St. Anthony’s to 8 points in return to Trinity’s 15.
Half Time Trinity 22 (2G 1T 1P) to St. Anthony’s 8(1T 1P)
Trinity were awarded an early scoring opportunity with less than five minutes into the second half with skipper Rangala going for the 3 points. Abeywickrema who had been spot on in the 1st half made no mistake to add the three points 18-8. The wet conditions on the pitch proved to be a tough playing factor to the second half as slippery ball handling cost Trinity a try. As center Ryan Weerakoon fumbled the ball, Antonian lock Duminda Hettiarachchi picked up the ball and covered over 40 meters to make it to the try line. The try gave them another breather as scores drifted close (13-15).
Hettiarachchi’s try was the last time that St. Anthony’s scored for the game as Neuman’s men struggled to hold on to possession, it was the visitors who utilized the opportunities to score at regular intervals. Over went Sanushka Abeywickrema to score and he also converted the try he scored. He was soon followed by Anuke Boyagoda, Rahul Karunathilake and Geshan Pethiyagoda who scored a try each for their team. Though Sanushka Abeywickrema converted only one out of the four tries, the commanding 49 point stand was enough to decide the winner of the game. The game ended with Trinity getting their second win and their fifth consecutive win against the Antonians.
ThePapare names Sanushka Abeywickrema was the player of the game making it to the starting team and scoring a try and for his responsibilities in kicking. The league will take a breather this coming week as the excitement will resume in a fortnight.
Full Time Score
Trinity 49 (4G 3T 2P) Tries scored by Sachintha Dissanayaka (2), Rahul Karunathilake (2), Anuka Boyagoda, Geshan Pethiyagoda, Sanushka Abeywickrema,
Conversions (4) and Penalties (2) by Sanushka Abeywickrema
St. Anthony’s College 13 Tries by Shermal Weerasekara, Duminda Hettiarachchi and Penalty by Maduwantha Kumara
