Kingswood College Kandy took on Royal College Colombo as a part if their A-division Schools rugby fixture at Nittawela Rugby Grounds today. The boys from Reid Avenue were looking to continue their winning ways whereas Kingswood College was looking to shake off the disappointing loss from last week.Royal started the scoring off with lock Adithya Weerasooriya going over for the try. It was set up beautifully with a trademark Royal rolling maul. (Kingswood 00 – Royal 05)
Kingswood hit right back however, Royal being sloppy at the breakdown. Hirusha Sampath stepped up and knocked down the 3 points for the boys from Randle’s Hill. (Kingswood 03 – Royal 05)
The Royal rolling maul was asking some serious questions from the Kingswood defence and they were struggling to find an answer. Kingswood was continuously collapsing the maul and inevitably it led to Nadeeka Senevirathne of Kingswood being sent to the sin bin. With one man up, Royal scored in no time using the maul, Rajhindu Jayasuriya being the try scorer this time. (Kingswood 03 – Royal 10)
That would be the last time Royal managed to reach the Kingswood half however as they failed to make use of the numerical advantage they had.
It was Kingswood who kept possession, forcing errors from the Royal defence and although a few chances to even the scores went abegging they managed to get the scoreboard moving with a penalty. Once again it was Hirusha Sampath who successfully kicked the penalty. (Kingswood 06 – Royal 10)
With that penalty the half ended with no side gaining any dominance. But Kingswood may have had the psychological edge as they came off from that sin bin period unscathed and having scored three more points.
Half time: Kingswood 06 (2P) – Royal 10(2T)
Kingswood showed great intensity when the second half began as they continued to pressure Royal at the break down and won a penalty. Hirusha Smapath continued to impress with the boot as he slotted in the kick to cut down Royal’s lead to one point. (Kingswood 09 – Royal 10)
Royal managed to increase their lead yet again as they scored a try a few phases after play restarted, Madusha Vikum being the beneficiary from some hard work by the Royal Forwards. Maleesha Perera converted the try from a tough angle (Kingswood 09 – Royal 17)
Kingswood College however didn’t allow Royal to settle into a pattern, as they continued to mount pressure with intense defence and heavy hits from the restart. The Kings forced an error at the breakdown yet again and it was that man Hirusha Sampath who stepped up and bisected the posts. (Kingswood 12 – Royal 17)
Towards the end of the game the Royal back line seemed to be getting into rhythm and it showed as well, with the Kingswood players having to perform tackle after tackle and eventually gave up a penalty for off-side. Maleesha Perera slotted home the penalty giving the Reid Avenue lads an unassailable lead. (Kingswood 12 – Royal 20)
Mohomad Al Nawran had a brain fade in the dying moments of the match as he came in from the side and kicked the ball being recycled from the ruck and he did all this right in front of the referee. This resulted in an immediate yellow card but Hirusha Sampath failed to successfully kick the ensuing penalty and Royal never gave up possession after that and wound the clock down to ensure victory.
Full Time: Kingswood 12(4P) – Royal 20 (3T, 1C, 1P)
ThePapare Player of the Match: Lehaan Gunaratna (ROYAL)
Point scorers for Kingswood: Hirusha Sampath 4P
Point scorers for Royal: Adithya Weerasooriya 1T, Rajhindu Jayasuriya 1T, Madusha Vikum 1T, Maleesha Perera 1C 1P
- Cautions and send off’s:
Nadeeka Senevirathne – Yellow Card – KINGSWOOD
Mohomad Al Nawran – Yellow card – ROYAL
