A thrilling game, breath taking three hours and a marvelous end: Peterites’ manage to conjure up some last minute magic to strike again against the gritty Royalists.
Peterites’ taking on the Royalists is a match many rugby spectators were waiting to watch. The number of spectators present speaks volumes of the above statement. Having come third in the Singer League, St. Peters were riding with confidence. However, regardless of the early slip ups by Royal College they were also in good shape after a strong brawl with Dharmaraja.
The Peterites kicked off, and from the start seemed to have a very strong game plan. After seeing the game played by Royal against S. Thomas’ they seem to have understood what the strengths of the ‘blue and gold’ were. This was indeed a massive advantage for the Peterites’. The first three tries were scored through Shenal Aponsu and Anuradha Herath. It took less than two minutes for the Peterites to put points on the board, and consolidate their position with another two tries to make it 19-0. However, by half time, the Royalists squeezed through to score twice and maintain a ten point deficit.
Shuaib Muthaliph was responsible for the first try after the forwards squirmed around their opponents try line for awhile. Shuaib Jabbar, crossed over for Royal’s second, again the home team using their forwards to good use, this time Rimze adding the extra two points as well.
Peter’s drew first blood in the second half as well. This propelled the Royalists to come back stronger as the Peterites’ looked to sit pretty with a 15 point lead. Among the compelling cheers from the supporters, Royal was able to shove their way back. This point onward, the boys from Bambalapitiya failed in their execution of the game plan, which they had done so brilliantly in the first half. Royal managed to crawl their way through, and scoring a last gasp try to level scores with St.Peters at 27 points apiece as the referee blew the long whistle.
Extra time followed, which provided another 10 minutes of nail biting rugby, however with the light fading, neither team managed to add anymore points and break the deadlock. The Royalists had most amount of possession, but failed to make the best use of it, as the Peterites defended their hearts out. After extra time, the game progressed to being decided on drop kicks, but again both teams managed to slot in three out of the five which further intensified the situation.
Finally, the game was pushed to three more drop kicks a side. It was reserve Sandesh Abeywickrama who made the decisive kick for Peter’s as unfortunately for Royal, Azman Khan failed in his attempt. Credit should go to both teams for some brilliant entertainment; however the Peterites’ should be commended for holding their nerve right throughout the game as they will progress to face Trinity College in the semi finals.
