St. Anthony’s College Kandy pulled off a narrow victory over St. Joseph’s College in their Under-16 encounter, winning the game 14-12 at the Nittawela Grounds, Kandy.
The Joes juniors were coming off a win in their previous game against Science College and had the momentum going into this friendly, despite being away from home.
It was the boys from Kandy however who struck first blood. Following a scrum, the Antonian scrum half broke through the Josephian defense and dived over the try line right at the corner. The conversion was successful to give the Antonian youngsters a 7 point lead.
The Joes youngsters looked to fire back immediately as a majority of the play following the try took place inside the Antonian half. The constant pressure paid off for the visitors when they powerfully drove a maul over the Antonian try line to get their first points on the board.
They failed to convert however, a factor that would come back to haunt them at the end of the game, as the first half ended with the Kandy boys leading 07-05.
The Antonians started the second half in attacking fashion and it quickly paid off. After some quick passing play, the Antonian youngster who got the ball on the 22-yard line evaded the Josephian defenders brilliantly before diving through the post for his team’s second goal.
The Josephians, now chasing the game, went on the attack, putting a lot of pressure on the Antonian defense to no avail.
Right on the brink of full time, the Joes center went on a barging run down the middle for an impressive try. The Colombo youngsters converted, however failure to convert their previous try left them short by 2 points when the referee blew for full time.
Full Time: St. Anthony’s College 14 (2T 2C) – 12 (2T 1C) St. Joseph’s College
