It was carnage at the Havelock Sports Club grounds as the Colombo Combined Schools outfit bulldozed over the Kandy Combined Schools side in the annual rugby encounter held ahead of the Junior Rugby ASIAD.
The game, held predominantly to select the national squad for the aforementioned tournament, saw the Colombo lads going on to score a staggering 72 points while the visitors could only manage 11.
Full time score: 72 (12T 6C) – 11 (1T 2P)
The encounter had four quarters of play since both teams fielded 30 of the best talents of the recently concluded schools’ rugby season.
The first half saw Kandy drawing first blood via the ever reliable Samuel Maduwantha, who kicked a 25m penalty through the uprights (3-0). The Colombo lads replied from the restart as Ashok Wijekumar sent out an offload to his Royal counterpart Nikhila Gunadeera to score the first try of the game (7-3).
Maduwantha sent across another 45m penalty to cut the deficit to a single point (7-6) but from that point onwards, it was Colombo’s game till the final whistle. Naveen Henakankanamage crossed over just before the conclusion of the first quarter to make the score 12-6.
Four unanswered tries came in the second quarter with Chatura Seneviratne leading the charge and Colombo rose to 36 points with two out of the four converted by Ashwantha Herath (36-6).
The third quarter was more of an even contest as the hosts were able to score only one converted try. The lads from Colombo dominated nearly 90% of the second and third quarters while the Kandy lads hardly had the ball in hand long enough to pose a threat. After receiving over five back to back penalties, Kandy finally crossed the white line on the far corner in the third quarter with the efforts of Shalindra Alahakoon (43-11).
The fourth quarter saw the best 15 players from each team making their way on to the field as per the assessment by the selectors and with Kushan Idunil, Romesh Priyankara and Naveen Henakankanamage aligning together, they proved to be unstoppable.
Henakankanamage, Idunil and Priyankara teamed up for the 1st try of the 4th quarter that Priyankara touched down. Henakankanamage later assisted Kushan Idunil on another break to score while Sandesh Jayawickrema and Nirosh Udayanga crossed over for effortless tries.
The two Wesleyites Zayan Sabah and Avantha Lee brought in the final two tries of the game as Colombo finished their stint at 72 points while Kandy was able to score 11 points.
It was a disappointing display by the Kandy combined outfit with only Samuel Maduwantha stepping up his game while the Colombo lads dominated all forms of play depriving Kandy of ball possession.
The Colombo team was a composed side with a proper structure in play and with the talent in-store; it was an easy execution.
Regardless of the result, it will be interesting to see who will be making it to the national squad ahead of the Junior ASIAD that is expected to kick off in Malaysia early December.
WATCH THE REPLAY: COLOMBO v KANDY – Sri Lanka U19 Selection | 8th November
