St. Joseph’s College recorded their 3rd victory in the Singer Schools Rugby League when they defeated Kingswood College, Kandy by 24-17 points in their Segment 1A game worked out at CR & FC grounds on Saturday.
Kingswood came to Colombo to play their 2nd game in the capital of Sri Lanka and hoped to crash the Josephian party. The match commenced right on 4.30pm with perfect gloomy conditions for open rugby. Kingswood fly-half Chathura Senevirathne kicked off the game.
The visitors got the first opportunity to draw blood when referee awarded a penalty after Josephians were infringed for not supporting their own body weight in a ruck. Top points-scorer in the league and Kings skipper Reeza Rafaideen had a long 42-meter shot at goal but it did not bisect the posts.
The home team pushed back the boys from Kandy badly in the next couple of minutes when their scrum-half Vimukthi Rahula took a short tap off a penalty to dazzle his way through to dive over the try line as Joes put the first points on board. Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya made no mistakes with the conversion. (SJC 07 – KCK 00)
Joes had the most percentage of possession and territory in the first 15 minutes of the game as both teams made a few unforced blunders to slow down the game. Kingswood scrum-half Heshan Jansen made a terrific break through the blindside to break the Josephian defense in the 22nd minute and his offload found incoming number 8 WA Senesh who had enough pace to outrun the Josephian full back and score in the far-corner. Skipper Rafaideen failed to add the extra points. (SJC 07 – KCK 05)
The visitors hunted as a pack during breakdowns to drive over the ball as Josephians showed poor structure in breakdowns most of the time and due to a professional foul, Josephian second-row forward Ravien De Silva was sent to the ‘Naughty Chair’ for 10 minutes by the referee as the clock ticked almost 30 minutes of rugby.
With only 6 minutes left to the half-time whistle, St. Joseph’s extended their lead courtesy an easy penalty kick by Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya after the Kingswood forwards were infringed for foul play in a ruck. (SJC 10 – KCK 05)
The set-pieces were pretty messy and important time was wasted due to reset of scrums in the first half. With only 2 minutes left in the first half, Kingswood took the lead in the game when their play-maker and second five-eighth Chathura Senevirathne sliced through the 10/12 channel to score under the posts. Rafaideen converted. (SJC 10 – KCK 12)
Joes received a golden opportunity to go into the break with their noses ahead when the Kingswood flanker Srinath Wimalaweera was yellow carded for continuous foul play by the team but Josephian place kicker Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya’s kick went astray.
Half-time: St. Joseph’s 10 (1T,1C, 1P) – Kingswood 12 (2T, 1C)
After the 10-minutes of breathing time, Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya restarted the game. Josephians were known to be a first-half side last couple of years but this time around they changed their slogan to a second-half side and rightly so, they came back to the lead early in the 2nd half when Shamilka slotted over two 25-meter penalty kicks after the visitors were penalized for holding on to the ball and hands in the ruck respectively in space of 4 minutes. (SJC 16 – KCK 12) 
Reeza Rafaideen was not up to his reputation of being the best place kicker of the season as he missed yet another penalty kick in the 50th minute but his booming territorial kicks showcased the kicking prowess of the Kings of Kandy.
Josephian forwards marched towards the try line in the next five minutes but failed to touch down but the visitors counter-attacked superbly through their superb skipper Reeza Rafaideen who gazed past few Josephian defenders in a brilliant run to touch down in the left corner in the 55th minute of the match. Rafaideen failed to convert his own try. (SJC 16 – KCK 17)
The exciting rugby continued to keep all the spectators at the edge of their seats for the next 10-15 minutes with only a point separating both teams but cool and composed Shamilka slotted over a 35-meter penalty kick in the 70th minute after the boys in red was infringed for hands in the ruck. (SJC 19 – KCK 17)
The Josephians had ample energy levels to hold the visitors in the final 10 minutes with Kingswood backline continuously asking questions from the young Josephian set of backs. Blue & White outside center Romesh ‘Cheetah’ Priyankara made a dashing break towards the try line in the 78th minute and his run gave momentum for the big prop forward Stephan Gregory to score the match-winning try for the Josephians. Shamilka failed to convert but that was sufficient for them to regain the 2nd spot in Segment 1A points table notching up their 3rd win in 4 games.
Full-time: St. Joseph’s 24 (2T,1C, 4P) – Kingswood 17 (3T, 1C)
ThePapare Players of the Match – Taariq Salih and Shamilka Kurumabalapitiya
Referee – Gamini Indrasena
After the game, Josephian head coach Bilal Yousuf shared his views on the game, “ Probably the worst performance of the season but to win playing so average, shows the character and fighting qualities of our side. We have to fix our problems in the game. “
Try Scorers (St. Joseph’s ) – Vimukthi Rahula (1), Stephan Gregory (1)
Points Scorers (St. Joseph’s) – Shamilka Kurumbalapitiya 14 points (1 Conversion, 4 Penalties)
Try Scorers – (Kingswood) – Reeza Rafaideen (1), WA Senesh (1), Chathura Senevirathne (1)
Points Scorers – (Kingswood) – Reeza Rafaideen 2 points (1 conversion)
Match Summary – Audio
Video Replay
