An outstanding performance by Thurstan College enabled them to book their place in the Premier Knock Outs finals next week after beating Prince of Wales College 53-00 today at the Royal College Sports Complex. Chamuth Peiris was the star of the day with almost a 100% success in kicking which tallied upto 23 points from his boot, the same score at half time for his team.
It was Thurstan College who opened their account with a penalty in the first two minutes after collecting their own ball from the kick off. Fly half Chamuth Peiris who was coached by the kicking prodigy Samuel Maduwantha made a beautiful kick between the posts to take his team 3 points up (TC 03 – POW 00). Minutes later they scored a try through their big prop forward R. Dissanayake through a menacing rolling maul and Peiris converted with ease (TC 10 – POW 00).
The Cambrians were trying their best to recover from the initial damage done but were guilty of not releasing the ball which resulted in continuous penalties. Having confidence in Chamuth Peiris’ kicking, Thurstan made no hesitation to point towards the goal and the penalties were converted on both occasions (TC 16 – POW 00).
Prince of Wales prop forward Deshan Deemantha was yellow carded for unnecessary punching and Thurstan had the numerical advantage until half time. Thurstan College used their destructive rolling maul once again and this time the Cambrian defence was caught napping as the giant Dissanayake made a blistering dash towards the try line unchallenged. It was very rare to see a player of his stature run at such pace and once again Peiris made no mistake with the easy conversion.
HT – Thurstan College 23 (2T 2C 3P) – POW 00
In a similar fashion as the first half, Peiris opted to go for the 3 pointer just 2 minutes into the second half and resumed kicking duties from where he stopped (TC 26 – POW 00). Soon after regaining their full team, Prince of Wales were in deep trouble when their captain Vihanga Shavin was sin binned for foul play. Thurstan College replied with a try from Denuwan Wickramarachchi as the lock forward looped around to score under the post and Mr. Reliable Peiris gleefully added the two points (TC 33 – POW 00).
Both teams were down to 14 men when Dimuth Perera of Thurstan was also yellow carded for a high tackle. However the physically dominant Thurstan forwards who managed to milk out penalties did it once again and Peiris made a perfect 5 out of 5 penalty kicks. Despite Nimsika scoring under the post, Peiris missed his first kick of the day as the Prince of Wales player charged down and deflected the ball with one hand. (TC 41 – POW 00).
With just 10 minutes left on the clock, the Thurstan bench came in and replacement scrum half D. Bandara sniped his way passed everyone with a sneaky try after collecting the ball from the base of the scrum. Peiris who almost had a perfect day didn’t worry too much about his missed conversion as he slotted this one with ease (TC 48 – POW 00).
Prince of Wales College players gave their absolute best to score a consolation try but a turnover resulted in possession to Thurstan and Dimuth Perera scored what one would call the best try of the day by covering one half of the ground as he looped past all the would be defenders. It was absolute individual brilliance and after scoring the try, Peiris decided he had enough kicking for the day as Thurstan College will be meet Ananda College next week in the Premier Knock Outs finals.
FT – Thurstan College 53 (6T 4C 5P) – POW 00
Player of the match – Chamuth Peiris
Scores breakdown –
Thurstan College –
Tries- R.Dissanayake(2), S. Nimsika, Dimuth Perera and D. Bandara
Conversions and Penalties – Chamuth Peiris (4C 5P)Prince of Wales College –
Yellow cards
Kilan Chamath, Vihanga Shavin of POW
Dimuth Perera of Thurston College
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