Kingswood College Kandy beat Wesley convincingly by 44-21 to claim the L.E. Blaze trophy in a game played at CR & FC on Friday.
Wesley College came into this game following a stellar performance against Isipathana College in their last game. Wesley, Having started poorly, Wesley were found trailing the kandy boys as they got an early lead after winger T.R. Raffideen broke from a knock on by Wesley college to set up Scrum Half S. Mohomad to score under the post. Fly Half A.R. Wijesighe Successfully Converted.(wesley 00 – Kigswood 07)
Both teams gifted each other easy Penalties but no team could have made the killer break till the kinswood Captain And Fly Half A.R. Wijesighe worked his way to score in the far right corner. Wijesighe Successfully Converted his try to hand kingswood the lead (wesley 00 – kingswood 14)
Kingswood lads had to defend hard while the boys from Wesley were trying hard to get some points on the board. in the bid to stop the weslyites, kingswood conceded a penalty for entering the Ruck in correctly and J.P.I. Madushan took the opportunity to successfully complete the kick at Goal. (wesley 03 – kingswood 14)
But just minutes later the Play maker from kingswood took a tricky penalty from 45 meters on the angle to increase the lead back to 14 points. (Wesley 03 – kigswood 17)
Wesley college was handed a great opportunity to add points on the board when kingswood winger T.R. Raffideen was shown Yellow for taking out a Kick Chaser and a few minutes later Wesley were handed yet another kicking opportunity when the kingswood defence was caught off side and J.P.I. Madushan kicked successfully to cut the deficit. (wesley 06 – kingswood 17)
Wesley College continued to let the lads from kandy keep their lead in tact when the wesleyites made a hash of their own ball, knocking it on, and the resulting scrum created a opening for M.F. Ali to score and stretch their lead over Wesley. Wijesighe converted successfully (wesley 06 – kingswood 24)
14 Man kingswood did not feel the loss of a man to sin bin as they continued to pile pressure on the Double Blues. When they were restored back to their full complement of 15 they spread the ball wide and from a pick and go hooker R.M.J.C.H. Amarasinghe touched down in the corner. Wijesighe missed the conversion. (wesley 06 – kingswood 29)
HALF TIME : Wesley 06 Kingswood 29
After the break Wesley College came out rejuvenated to put first points on the board, as their second five eight J.P.I. Madushan popped the ball to Winger A.D.Y.C.K. Samarathunga who found a gaping hole through the heart of the Kingswood defence to score. Madushan missed the conversion (wesley 11- kingswood 29)
With a 18 Point lead Wesley college had to spread the ball wide and run at Kigswood but in the process of doing it a crucial knock on in the kingswood half broke in favour of Kingswood and a well weighted kick and a good pickup by the kandy boys created a runaway try for M.F. Ali to grab a brace of tries. Wijesighe missed the conversion (wesley 11 – kingswood 34)
Following a good kick off and pressure at the ruck from the Wesleyites the Kingswood boys were penalized for not holding their feet at the ruck, a quick tap and a bit of width on the ball found its way in to winger A.D.Y.C.K. Samarathunga hands as he scored in the corner for his second try. Madushan missed the conversion (wesley 16 – kingswood 34)
In their bid to gain some pride, Wesley boys tried to run the ball out of their own 22 but unorganized rucking lead to a turn over and S. Mohomad picked up from the Ruck and scored in the corner. Wijesighe did not convert. (wesley 16 – kingswood 39)
With the game already slipped out of the grasp of Wesley, Kingswood spread the ball wide and Kingswoods star Fly Half produced an astonishing chip into the corner and found their Fullback A.P.R.I.P Kumara at the end of the kick to score in the corner. M.C.B. Senavirathne missed the conversion (wesley 16 – kingswood 44)
Gaining some pride at the end B.T.H. Jurangpathy snipped through the defence but a last ditch tackle stopped him extremely close to the try line but a pick and go from Prop forward W.G.D. Vimukthi completed the score to round off the game. L.P. Madushanka did not convert (wesley 21 – kingswood 44)
Full Time : Wesley 21 – Kingswood 44
Kingswood Asst coach W.R. Mendis expressed his views after the game. “We Played a very good game in the first half but I thought we could have done better than what we did in the Second half. Overall I am pleased with the performance today.”
ThePapare Man Of the Match : A.R. Wijesinghe
