St. Joseph’s College hosted S.Thomas’ College in the 65th Lady Jayetilleke Shield encounter at Havelock Park and the boys from Mount Lavinia emerged victorious to retain the shield and record their 45th win against the Joes. The match was a high scoring one which included 11 tries and the final scoreline was 43-31.
S.Thomas’ College drew first blood with their fullback Mayanka Dias going over. Thomians worked their line to the left of the field and Akith Cooray opted for a kick and chase and the bounce helped Dias to kick the ball again and he managed to touchdown after another good chase. The try was converted by Yehan Bulathsinghalage (SJC 00 – 07 STC)
A powerful run by Shehan Malinda of St. Joseph’s College broke the initial defensive line of the Thomians and he escaped an ankle tap to go all the way with a handoff on the final defender. The conversion was missed by Bheeshma Jayasekara (SJC 05 – 07 STC)
High tackle advantage to S. Thomas’ and from the scrum they worked the ball to the right of the field and Seneshka Liyanagunawardene provided a lovely offload to his skipper as Bulathsinghalage went over. The try was converted by Dias to increase their lead (SJC 05 – 14 STC)
Malshan Dewmin scored the 2nd try against the round of play as a territory gainer from Jayasekara didn’t find touch but a pass from a Thomian player was intercepted by Dewmin and he was unstoppable from there onwards. This time Jayasekara converted the try to get his team closer to the opposition score (SJC 12 – 14 STC)
Avishka Perera scored the 3rd try for the visitors as S.Thomas’ managed to produce quick ball from the rucks and the unconvincing defence of St. Joseph’s were unable to contain them. Bulathsinghalage converted the try with a lovely kick through the posts from a hard angle (SJC 12 – 21 STC)
After receiving a scrum inside the opposition 22m the forwards took the Thomians close towards another try but after receiving a penalty they took the tap and worked the ball to the left of the field as Bulathsinghalage went over with a little step inside to fox the last defenders of St. Joseph’s. Dias converted the try to increase the lead further going into the half-time (SJC 12 – 28 STC)
Half-Time : St. Joseph’s College 12 – 28 S. Thomas’ College
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Holding on penalty from the first kick of the 2nd half to S. Thomas and Bulathsinghalage opted to go for the 3 points and added them easily (SJC 12 – 31 STC)
Shehan Malinda once again produced a bulldozing run to give back some momentum for the hosts as he was too strong for the Thomians to cope up with during 1 on 1 situations. However Jayasekara missed a straightforward conversion which was much needed at that point of the game (SJC 17 – 31 STC)
Akash Fernando went over for the 5th try after a penalty from close range as he was too strong for the Josephian defence to stop. Bulathsinghalage converted the try to increase the leas to 21 points (SJC 17 – 38 STC)
St. Joseph’s finally found some momentum as the forwards produced some good runs and Induwara Rodrigo found the whitewash with Jayasekara adding the 2 points (SJC 24 – 38 STC)
Kaveesha Lenagala scored the final try of the game for the Thomians just before the final whistle as they went into the 40s. The conversion however didn’t go over from Udan Bulathsinghalage. (SJC 24 – 43 STC)
St. Joseph’s College scored a consolation try right at the end as Avishka Perera of S. Thomas’ was shown a yellow card and the home team made use of the numbers advantage to go over. Jayasekara who scored the try converted it himself and the referee blew for the final whistle (SJC 31 – 43 STC)
Both the teams scored a total of 11 tries in total and although only 12 points separated the two sides, S.Thomas’ dominated the majority of the game. They were disciplined and controlled their situations smoothly when compared to the hosts. Joes had their chances throughout the game but poor ball handling and defending cost them this encounter. Mayanka Dias was adjudged player of the match for scoring a try and for being a livewire throughout the game with some good kicks as well.
Full-Time : S. Thomas’ College 43 (6T 5C 1P) beat St. Joseph’s College 31 (5T 3C)
Player of the Match : Mayanka Dias (STC)
Points Breakdown
S.Thomas’ College : Yehan Bulathsinghalage 19 Points (2 Tries 3 Conversions 1 Penalty), Mayanka Dias 9 Points (1 Try 2 Conversions), Avishka Perera 5 Points (1 Try), Akash Fernando 5 Points (1 Try), Kaveesha Lenagala 5 Points (1 Try)
St. Joseph’s College : Shehan Malinda 10 Points (2 Tries), Bheeshma Jayasekara 11 Points (1 Try 3 Conversions), Malshan Dewmin 5 Points (1 Try), Induwara Rodrigo 5 Points (1 Try)
