St. Peter’s College continued their unbeaten run as they comprehensively defeated St. Anthony’s College 39 points to 00 in their Dialog Schools Rugby League 2023 Super Round encounter, which was worked off at Bambalapitiya. Furthermore, this game was also a traditional trophy game that was played for the Rector’s Trophy.
St.Peter’s dominated the initial interchanges and they duly won a penalty, but the Peterite fullback Kushan Tharindu missed out an easy kick in front of the sticks. The boys from Bamba continued their onslaught on the visitors using their Forwards by playing a few phases patiently from close range before spreading the ball to the corner to send Winger Dineth Ranasinghe over the line to open the scoring. (SPC 05 – 00 SACK)
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St.Peter’s was awarded another penalty when the Antonians were caught for not maintaining the five meter gap from a defensive scrum and Yumeth Shihara’s penalty kick moved the Peterites 8 points clear. (SPC 08 – 00 SACK)
St. Anthony’s star player and Captain Sahan Keerthisiri was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle and the Peterites exploited the extra man advantage by scoring twice during his 10 minute break.
Skipper Ashain Madugasge sniped over from the back of a maul to score the first one for the home side and a few minutes later, Hooker Januka Ranasinghe collected a loose ball inside the St. Anthony’s Red zone and made a quick offload to Kushan Tharindu. He straightened the attacking line to open up space for Skipper Madugasge to cruise over for his second try of the game. Yumeth Shihara stroked over both conversions with ease to enhance the home side’s lead. (SPC 22 – 00 SACK)
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The Peterites, on the brink of Half Time, scored an absolutely stunning try with some individual brilliance from last year’s Skipper Sudesh jayawickrama. He showed off his speed as well as his power by going past four Antonian defenders, shrugging off the last one to score under the post to clinch the bonus point try, while Shihara added the extras from his conversion.
Half Time: St. Peter’s College 29 (4T,3C,1P) – St. Anthony’s College 00
The second half was an error-ridden game as both teams made few handling errors which slowed down the game, and Coach Sanath Martis emptied his bench to give the subs some game time.
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After a lapse of 20 minutes, the Peterites found the white wash when Fly Half Vindya Demel and Winger Pasindu Bandara joined together to bring the play inches short of the white wash as the bulky Prop forward Ranithu Ridmal powered his way over the line to score the 5th try. (SPC 34 – 00 SACK)
A flowing team move by the Peterites’ back line capped off a brilliant game when Winger Pasindu Bandara went over in the corner for the final try of game, as the Peterites retained Rector’s Trophy for another year. They will play Isipathana College next Saturday for the Dialog Schools Rugby League title at the same venue.
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Full Time: St. Peter’s College 39 (6T,3C,1P) – St. Anthony’s College 00
- NDB Player of the Match: Sudesh Jayawickrama (St. Peter’s College)
Points Breakdown
St. Peter’s College: 39
Tries: Dineth Ranasinghe, Ashain Madugasge (2), Sudesh Jayawickrama, Ranithu Ridmal, Pasindu bandara; Cons: Yumeth Shihara (3); Pens: Yumeth Shihara
St. Anthony’s College 00
