Kingswood College picked up their first win of the Singer Schools Rugby season with a gritty 17-12 win over their arch rivals Wesley College at the Nittawela stadium earlier this evening. And hence Kingswood also managed to earn themselves the prestigious 34th L.E.Blaze trophy for another year. At lemons Wesley were leading 9-5
It was a medium-quality 70 minutes at Nittawela with both teams failing to capitalize on their opportunities. Penalties and poor handling dominated the match, especially from the Kingswoodians as they conceded too many penalties at the breakdown after starting the early exchanges with some crunching tackles and a dominant defensive performance. Wesley played the game in the opposition’s half but Kingswood repelled the attacks with ease and the only thing Wesley seemed to lack was their finishing touches.
Wesleyites were playing with flair and a lot of width in the opening minutes, and it was they who took the lead first via a Mursheed Zubair penalty kick in the 6th minute. (KCK 00-03 WC)
Photo Album : Kingswood College vs Wesley College | Singer Schools Rugby League 2019
The home side then had a stranglehold on the game being camped inside the Wesley 22. The sustained pressure resulted in the Wesleyite center Hansaja being yellow carded for repeated high tackles in the 12th minute.
The hosts went through to score with the momentum and within minutes thanks to a planned move involving Hirusha Sampath and Milan Weerasinghe. The scrum half got the ball off the back of the scrum, took a hit and shoveled it onto the number 8 Tuan Farid who took over two defenders over the left corner white wash for the game’s first try. (KCK 05-03 WC)
Mursheed Zubair also missed two straightforward penalties, which would have given the Campbell Park side a handy lead.
Mursheed was eventually successful with another two penalties later on in the 24th minute and the 32nd minute, the first penalty was given for the line being offside and the second for having hands on the ruck which gave Wesley a 4 point buffer at the half time break. (KCK 09-05 WC)
Half Time; Kingswood 05(1T) – 09(3P) Wesley
Wesley scored their only points of the second half in the 53rd minute through Mursheed Zubair’s boot, but the hosts then turned up the ante playing some expansive style of rugby. (KCK 05-12 WC)
Kingswood managed to cut back the deficit thanks to some slick backline play. Centre Athukorala shot an inside ball to Sampath who sent Milan Weerasinghe, who’s pace saw him cross the line. However Sampath made a mess of the conversion with Kingswood still trailing by two points. (KCK 10-12 WC)
Finally the Kingswood comeback try came from a textbook rolling maul was quickly cancelled out thanks to some magic from Hirusha Sampath. The little scrum half was upended in a tackle but still produced a stunning offload to put Milan Weerasinghe in a gap and over the whitewash to get into the lead after trailing for almost 65 minutes of the game.
Referee Priya Suranga blew the long whistle giving the trophy out to the hosts and well deserved and worthy winners Kingswood College.
ThePapare.com Player of the Match – Hirusha Sampath (KCK)
Breakdown
Kingswood
Tries from Milan Weerasinghe (2) and Tuan Farid (1)
Conversion from Hirusha Sampath
Wesley
Penalties from Mursheed Zubair (4)
