A dominant 70 minutes by Kigswood College saw them pounce on a rather disorganized Trinity outfit making 24-15 to make it to the Milo President’s Trophy semifinals this evening.
Full-time score: Kingswood 24 – Trinity 15
The second quarterfinal of the Milo President’s Knockout Trophy played under overcast conditions at Nittawela was another episode of the age old Trinity-Kingswood rivalry that saw its inception in 1906.
The Kings with an exceptional backline and complimenting forwards dominated the game but it was Akitha Sakalasooriya of Trinity who drew first blood with an easy penalty in the 15th minute. (0-3)
Minutes later, a scrum inside the 22 allowed space for Kingswood’s Milan Weerasinghe to freeload the Trinity defense before popping an offload to Janitha Rajanayake who scored the first points. Hirusha Sampath converted (7-3).
Trinity were awarded a scrum inside their attacking half and the effort saw Reshan Bandaranayake touching down to win back the lead.
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However, the turning point of the game was the try from Asiri Seneviratne on the brink of halftime. With a 5 meter lineout, Hirusha Sampath’s pass that was cleanly collected by Seneviratne shrugged off his counterpart Sakalasooriya with what looked like a step from a tap dance routine to score under the post. Sampath added the extras.
Half time- Kingswood 14-8 Trinity
The second half was nothing different as the Lions’ defense was caught napping on several occasions. Credit should go out to the nippy Kingswood half back Hirusha Sampath for his presence of mind on field creating opportunities for the next two tries that the team scored.
A 10-meter scrum saw Kingswood executing an 8/9/11 move on the blind side with only Avishka Shiek to defend. Dananjaya Nuwan scored their first in the second half with the conversion going astray. (19-8)
The next play started with a brilliant effort from Sampath who kept the ball in play and allowed centre Mohammed Shazam to run riot through the crumbling Trinity defense. With Shazam finding Sachintha Seneviratne in support, Seneviratne touched down on the far corner covering almost 30 meters which was the final nail in the coffin for the Trinitians.
In the midst of the Kingswood onslaught, the Lions seemed to have learnt a thing or two from their arch-rivals Royal College, as they enacted the rolling maul successfully to score in the second half. Mahadi Abdulla touched down but that was not enough to change the inevitable.
With the Lions’ seeing an end to their campaign, they will have only themselves to blame for their misery in this quarterfinal. Chances went begging due to their indiscipline in gameplay as well as in their players.
Kingswood College will make it to a first semifinal in the Milo President’s trophy after a long time and Tharindu Waligampola’s team will face the defending champions St. Joseph’s College in the semifinal that will be played next weekend at Sugathadasa.
- ThePapare Player of the Match: Hirusha Sampath (Kingswood College)
Full-time score: Kingswood 24 (4T 2C) – Trinity 15 (2T 1C 1P)
Match referee: H. P. Weranga
Breakdown
Kingswood – Tries by Janitha Rajanayake, Asiri Seneviratne, Dananjaya Nuwan & Sachintha Seneviratne. Conversions (2) by Hirusha Sampath
Trinity – Tries by Reshan Bandaranayake, Mahadi Abdullah. Conversion by Minidu Jayasundera and Penalty by Akitha Sakalasooriya
