Royal recorded a crucial 14-07 victory against the boys for Darley Road in their respective ‘A’ Division fixture at the Royal College Sports Complex
The hosts started the game on the front foot with the forwards ‘toying’ the Josephian defence early on. However, after 4-5 good phases the Royalists knocked on resulting in a scrum to the boys from Darley Road.The Royal forwards who had built the early momentum, turned over the scrum, as Pasindu Peries bundled over to score in the 3rd minute for the Reid Avenue lads who deserved the early break. Rimze Jamaldeen failed to add the extra points as the score remained at 5-0.
The home team continued to pile on the pressure, as they maintained a freakishly high advantage in terms of territory which was around 90% in the first ten minutes of the game.
Before the end of the first half, there was a slight delay as there was a lack of rugby balls available, with most of them having been dispatched on to the roof and into the new pavilion construction site at the Royal Complex.
It was nearly 20 minutes, when the Josephians made it into the Royal 22m line, in an attack that lacked finesse. Soon after, Rimze Jamaldeen missed a tough penalty opportunity, as both teams lacked that offensive edge.However, it was Royal who looked the better team in the first half, and bar some handling errors the Josephians should be commended for their defending.
Half Time: Royal 05 v St. Josephs 00
Royal drew first blood in the second half through a Rimze Jamaldeen penalty; the captain leading from the front in both attack and defense. However, soon after, some lack of discipline in the ruck saw the Royalists concede a penalty, which unfortunately was dragged wide for the Josephians who were looking to open their account.
After the early Royal penalty, the Josephians improved their offensive work considerably in the second half, and caused a lot of problems to the Royal defense. After a relentless patch of forward play by the Joes, the boys from Reid Avenue who were resolute in their defensive work, succumbed to the immense pressure, as the Josephians managed to score under the post through Vishmitha Perera. With the extra points added, the ‘blue and whites’ earned a well deserved seven points and cut the deficit to just one.
The Josephians looked to put more pressure after the break, and had a considerably few close calls but failed to capitalize. Rimze added two more penalties towards the death to keep the Josephians out of reach as the Royalists recorded their third victory of the season, which would see them leap frog Science College to 5th place in the league table, while the Darley road boys will be put into the relegation battle.
Full Time : Royal 14 – St. Josephs 07
