A week 4 encounter of the Dialog Schools Rugby League 2023 concluded today at the Trinity College Rugby Stadium at Pallekele between the home team Trinity College and St. Peter’s College. The visiting Peterite side emerged victorious in the clash with a scoreline of 22-10.
Trinity started off all guns blazing as they scored a try in the first minute of the game. The home team managed to steal the ball off the kickoff and then the forwards marched ahead with Thenuk Fernando crossing over to add the 5 points to catch the Peterites completely off guard. Shan Althaf the young fly half finally kicked the first successful conversion of the season for the Trinitians to make it 7-0 (TCK 07 – 00 SPC)
>>Photos – Trinity College vs St. Peter’s College – Dialog Schools Rugby League – 2023<<
Few minutes later, the Peterites managed to hit back after they pounced on a penalty opportunity. They gained some good meters with the kick to find territory and then a good lineout took them close to the try line. On the very next move, the Peterite prop Ranidu Ridmal managed to pierce the final line of defense of Trinity to find the whitewash. Yumeth Shihara converted the try to make it all even inside the first 10 minutes (TCK 07 – 07 SPC)
After the initial few moves with a lot of speed and aggression, the teams slowed down a bit and focused more on their kicking for territory game. Anuhas Kodithuwakku who was going for a similar kick waited too long to kick on one attempt and the Peterites who saw the opportunity charged it down and won the ball back. St. Peter’s worked their line brilliantly after that and Sudesh Jayawickrama managed to touchdown for the try that gave them the lead. The conversion didn’t go through as the lead didn’t extend for the Peteries and there were no more scoring opportunities for both the sides before half time (TCK 07 – 12 SPC)
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Early in the second half, Trinity College received a penalty and Althaf kicked it through to cut the deficit down to just 2 points (TCK 10 – 12 SPC) But just few minutes later the Peterites received a penalty of their own and Emith Jayaweera added the 3 points as their lead returned to 5 points (TCK 10 – 15 SPC)
As the final 10 minutes approached, Trinity were trying desperately to find an opening to score and Althaf attempted at a drop goal which fell short. After that miss Kushan Tharindu managed to provide a strong run for the visitors and Jayawickrama continued the momentum with a dashing run fending off 3 Trinity defenders. He got tackled just few meters away from the whitewash but skipper Ashen Madugaspe finished the job to extend their lead into the double-digit territory. Jayaweera converted the try to make it even harder for the home side as the game ended with the same scoreline giving St. Peter’s a 3rd consecutive win (TCK 10 – 22 SPC)
The Lions had a promising start to the game but unfortunately some costly blunders like not kicking the ball into touch off penalties twice and some lose passing attempts completely derailed their momentum. For St. Peter’s they did well to make sure they stayed focused even after the early onslaught from Trinity. Peterites went off with a score whenever they were in the Trinity half. That was the difference between the two sides.
FULL TIME : St. Peter’s College 22 (3T, 2C,1P) beat Trinity College 10 (1T,1C,1P)
- NDB Bank Player of the Match :- Sudesh Jayawickrama (SPC)
Points Breakdown
St. Peter’s College : Ranidu Ridmal 1T, Sudesh Jayawickrama 1T, Ashen Madugaspe 1T, Yumeth Shihar 1C, Emith Jayaweera 1C 1P
Trinity College : Thenuk Fernando 1T, Shan Althaf 1C 1P
>>DIALOG SCHOOLS RUGBY LEAGUE 2023<<
