Kingswood College capped off an excellent two days with a thrilling 07-05 win over St. Joseph’s College in the final of the Sri Lanka Super 7’s to lay claim to the under 16 competition.
St Joseph’s who have had a dream run on the rugby field this year, made yet another final today beating Science College 12- 05 in the quarters before overcoming Wesley College 29- 07 in the semi-final. Kingswood on the other hand who were undoubtedly the best team in the competition beat Isipathana College 29-05 in quarter the final and St Peters College 15-12 in a thriller in the semi-final.
While both teams threw everything but the kitchen sink at each other in the first half, the Joes went into the break leading by just five points with Sudaraka Devapriya’s try being the only score of the half.
HT: St Joseph’s College 05 – Kingswood College 00
The second half did not fall short of the hype with both sides battling it out for supremacy as Kingswood started to express themselves with spectacular continuity that they did all weekend long. The lads from Kandy ultimately got over the line with just under a minute left on the clock as Dakshina Athukorala ran in a sublime try. St. Joseph’s were just short of the mark in the end, even after referee Jamaldeen sent a Kingswood player to the bin on the recommendation of the assistant referee and awarded the Joes a penalty 5 meters out, surprisingly reversing his decision to blow the full time whistle.
Final Score: Kingswood 07 – St Joseph’s College 05
Meanwhile in the plate final, the Peterites ripped through Wesley College, opening the first-half with the Pete’s using the numerical advantage after Eranda Harshana received a yellow card. The Peterites used the advantage and drew first blood with a converted try by Ashel Ranasinghe. Later in the 1st half, Wesley were once again down to six men with Eranda Harshan receiving his second yellow for a dangerous tackle. St. Peter’s pounced on the advantage and ended the half with a healthy 14-00 lead.
The Peterites stacked up another 22 points in the second half with Tries from Chandima Sandaruwan, Stellon Eardley and Charith Sasika. Wesley however salvaged one try at the very end but it was absolute domination from the boys from Bambalapitiya.
FT: SPC 36 – WC 05
Science College who found themselves relegated to the bowl segment after having won the U18 title in Kandy, kicked off the final against Isipathana with a player send to the sin- bin in just the 2nd minute. Science however dominated the first half with two tries while Isipathana managed a solitary try in the opening stanza.
The second half saw the green machine claw their way back into the game with an early try to level the scores going into the last minute. Science College in response ran in a converted try to seal the game in the very last minute for the lads from Mt. Lavinia.
St. Anthony’s College were forced to play in the shield final against Zahira College and ran away with a massive first half score of 26-00. In the second half however, Zahira College held back the storming Antonians conceding just the one try, while also scoring a try of their own. St. Anthony’s finally took the game 33-07 at full time and laid claim to the Shield while finishing 7th in the tournament.
FT: SACK 33- ZC 07
