Thomians recorded their second win of the season with a lackluster, 46-8 win over CWW Kannangara MV at Mount Lavinia on Saturday. The home side scored the points through 4 goals, 3 tries and a penalty which included a hat-trick from outside wing, Ezra Ibrahim.
Much was expected from the home team but they failed to live up to the hype mainly due to their indiscipline in conduct and match play which denied them a few tries. From the outset the match was plagued with handling errors by both the teams. Thomians dominated territory for a major part of the match but failed to convert the advantage into points. CWW Kannangara coming into the match after thrashing Mahanama last week played some resolute defense in the first half against their more illustrious opponents. Hosts capitalised on multiple set-piece opportunities and out-muscled the CWW Kannangara lads as many predicted beforehand.
In the 5th minute S.Thomas’ barged over for a converted try under the post. Halfway through the first half Ibrahim scored the first of his three tries after a wonderful run down the wing – Devin Jayasinghe added the extra points.
Thomians were reduced to 14 men when Rashenka Pilapitiya was sin binned for two offside infringements and fly half for CWW Kannangara put over the resulting penalty to close the gap on the scoreboard to 14-3
At lemons S.Thomas’ led 14-03
Full back for the Thomians, Aathif Jawarth played a brilliant game in both attack and defense. Jawarth’s ability to link up with the backline together with his speed caused a headache for the CWW Kannangara defense. Jawarth was instrumental in setting up Ibrahim’s 2nd try and was rewarded for his hard work when he crossed the whitewash for the team’s 4th try.
Pilapitiya making amends for his ‘absence’ in the first half scored a try in the 60th minute which was converted making it 31-3 in favour of the hosts. Thomian captain Jayasinghe was not at his usual best missing 3 conversions but was able to extend the lead through a penalty after the CWW Kannangara forwards were deemed to be handling in the ruck.
Soon after the spectators witnessed the best passage of play by the visitors when they marched forward from their own half with some nifty skills by the backline culminating in a try down the corner flag. The conversion was not good and the scores read 34-08. In the latter stages Ibrahim scored his hat-trick try after working on the blind side from a scrum – Jayasinghe’s conversion bouncing off the upright, and straight after the restart Devin Jayasinghe scored with a 70 meter lung bursting run under the post. The conversion was good and at the final whistle the scores read 46-08.
The Thomians need to be much more ruthless and organized if they are to succeed in the future matches and as for the lads from CWW Kannangara, they showed what they are capable of with the running game and if not for the indiscipline in key moments the score line would have been much worse from the home side’s point of view.
